Prophecy
by Le Sobriquet
Summary: In a world where nothing is as it seems, a reluctant Natsume journeys far into danger with Mikan in a bid to save her dying mother. What happens when they find that they're bound together by a prophecy? Can everyone - anyone - be trusted at all?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **Disclaimed. :)

* * *

**Prologue**

_Twenty years prior to present time_**  
**

Faster.

The little fairy fluttered her wings vigorously as she tried to propel herself forward despite her weak state. No, she could not afford to be caught now. Not after all the trust the king had given her by entrusting her with this gravely important task.

She would not fail him, even if her life depended on it.

The sound of twigs being crushed under one's foot and the increasingly louder shouts of fury reached her ears just as the fairy rounded a corner and neared the edge of the forest.

She was almost there. It was almost over.

An arrow flew precariously past her and the fairy resisted the urge to shriek, somehow managing to keep her calm even as her life hung in the balance. She clung tightly to the package in her arms even though it was almost as big as she. That wouldn't have meant anything to a human, since she was about the height of a pencil, but to her it meant that the package was heavy enough to drop at any moment. She could not afford that.

_Fasterfasterfaster -_

- she was almost out of the forest now. As long as she managed to make it out, she would be safe. Master Serio had the power to protect her within Lavencia.

A stream of moonlight filtered by the thick blanket of trees reached her eyes, and the fairy let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in when she finally saw the moon.

Almost safe.

She forced herself to move forward wearily, but at that moment a cry rang out and a shot was fired. The fairy wobbled in mid-air, desperately fluttering her wings -  
- and fell to the ground with a barely audible thud.

No. No. No.

As she writhed in agony from the wound that was currently gushing out large, relentless pools of blood, the fairy caught a glimpse of a sick, sinister smile. She took in deep gasps of air as her lungs tightened. She dug her nails into the package, her blood darkening the black cloth that was wrapped around it.

A big, callused hand wrapped its fingers around her, and the fairy had all but one thought before she gave herself in to oblivion.

_I'm sorry, Your Majesty._

* * *

"You cannot mean to tell me that you sent that tiny thing to fetch the prophecy?" An elder asked incredulously, cutting off the heated discussion that the king was having with Serio Rei, his trusted aide.

The king sighed audibly, "I am afraid so, my dear subject. I hate to have to say this but these are troubled times and there is hardly anyone I can trust. Faye will be fine. She may not be too skilled in terms of magic, but the little minx can be very resourceful at times. She'll deliver the prophecy to us." Even as he said it, the king turned to Serio with questioning eyes.

"In times like this, as much as I would like to reassure Your Majesty, there is nothing that is certain."

The king let out a bark of humourless laughter while the elder clicked his tongue impatiently. "That was hardly of any help at all, you useless –"

The sentence was left unfinished as the door was thrown upon and an anxious midwife curtsied so quickly that she almost fell. The three men's faces immediately grew solemn when they realized what she was here for. "Elena," the king nodded, swallowing thickly, "is there something wrong?"

The midwife – Elena – shot him a dirty look. "Your Majesty, I had thought of you as a king who could take care of both his kingdom and his family, but apparently I was wrong. The Queen went into labour more than three hours ago, and you were nowhere to be found! This is blatant disrespect for the woman who is carrying the heir of the kingdom..." Elena threw her hands up in the air and continued on her tirade.

The king smiled weakly while Serio smirked. "Woman," he drawled, "just tell us the results already. The baby? Is it okay?"

At the mention of the baby, Elena's face glowed as she smiled with love and satisfaction. "A fine little lad he'll grow up to be. Those eyes of his! He'll be charming all the women in the kingdom!" She shot a sideways glance at the king accusingly.

The king laughed, the sound a deep rumble in his throat. In times like this when even he himself had to fear for his life, the arrival of his son was not really something to be celebrated, but it brightened up the atmosphere all the same.

* * *

In the northern wing of the castle, a woman huffed and puffed, moaning in pain as she tried to get her baby out into the world safely. Except for a midwife and her husband, there was no one else in the tiny, secluded room.

"Push, Your Highness! I can see his head, push harder!" The midwife urged frantically.

The woman wheezed as she did as she was told. A few more times, and the cry of a baby broke through the stillness of the night.

The woman's husband - ignoring the weakened state that his wife was currently in - hurriedly asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A healthy boy, Your Highness."

The woman's face paled further when she heard of the news. She clutched weakly at her husband's robe, pleading, "Please...please...don't do it..."

The man didn't even show a sign of having heard her. Instead, his lips twisted into a cruel, sinister smile that looked oddly out of place on his clear, handsome face.

"Very well," he muttered to himself like a crazed man, "Very well." Turning to his wife, he disregarded the horrified look in her eyes and the desperate way she was tugging at his robe.

"Soon, my dear," he murmured soothingly, caressing her shaking hand, "Soon we will have the world."

* * *

**A/N: **This is my present project. While I write this I'll also be planning out Timeless and rewriting it. Hopefully when this is finished - or nearing the end - I will be done with Timeless as well. I'll post it when the time comes. :)

-Annabel.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Disclaimed.

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Twenty years later_

The world was a beautiful place. Mikan had always been fascinated by all the colours it possessed, by all the wonders of nature – by the sheer beauty of the world.

She sat under her favourite tree, hugging her knees to her chest as she admired the fiery orange hue that tinged the sky as the sun went down. The sun set every single day, and every day Mikan would be here. Every single day she found it hard to believe how something so beautiful could possibly exist.

Mikan played around with the grass, plucking at them as she cocked her head in thought. Her biggest dream was to go out and see the world. She was an adventurer at heart, for despite being confined to the little village of Glane for almost nineteen years, her heart had never truly belonged here.

Her heart was out there somewhere, exploring the world and all the mysteries it had to offer.

To be honest, she would have left this place a long time ago, when she turned sixteen and officially of age, but she couldn't find the heart to leave for adventure alone while her mother lay dying on her sickbed.

Her mother had singlehandedly brought her up after her father met with an accident while he was out horseriding. He died when she had been merely five, and her memories of him were all but a blur now.

Her memories with her mother, however, were all as crystal clear as if they had occurred yesterday. Her mother had taken it upon her frail, tiny shoulders to provide her with all she could and could not afford. She had toiled every single second of her life, and ended up with nothing but the burden of sickness.

How could she leave someone like that, Mikan thought, how could she possibly abandon the only person who had loved and dedicated her whole life to her?

Hot tears stung Mikan's eyes as she thought of the sin she would be committing if she left, and all the things that she would be missing now that she was not.

"Hey, kiddo!" A gruff voice broke her out of her reverie, and Mikan whipped her head around, hastily wiping away all traces of her tears.

It was Tsubasa, the boy who lived next door and had always been like a brother to her. "Tsubasa!" Mikan called as she got to her feet, dusting leaves off her dress. Then, her expression immediately sobered as she thought of the only reason that Tsubasa would come all the way to look for her in the woods, a significant distance away from the village they both lived in. There could only be one reason.

"Mother... has something happened to Mother?" The question came out almost inaudibly. She was afraid to ask, afraid to know.

Tsubasa hesitated only slightly before clicking his tongue and saying, "Well, she's not that good, but she's not too bad either, kid. She'll be fine." He held out a rough, calloused hand, trying to reassure her.

"Come on, kiddo, let's go home."

* * *

The palace was a stifling place to grow up in, and Natsume Hyuuga just happened to have the bad luck to grow up in it and live in it.

Which is why, the moment he got the chance, he nicked a horse from the royal stables and tore out of the hell-hole. It was supposed to be an easy bid of freedom. Who could possibly catch him on a horse?

He honestly hadn't expected the palace guards to jump on their horses and chase him all the way out into the wilderness.

He cursed as he kept a tight grip on the reins. Riding a horse without a saddle was getting increasingly uncomfortable, but he hadn't even had the time to saddle up before people realized what he was trying to do. So he should have been more subtle, too bad he only realized it now.

Natsume rolled his eyes and grinded his teeth irritably as he pulled his horse to a stop and turned around to face his pursuers. The group of elite palace guards came to a halt in front of him and bowed their heads respectfully.

Natsume didn't buy any of that. He knew he had no control on them. His uncle was the one who held the reins in the palace, despite Natsume holding the title of prince, the only heir of the deceased king.

Ever since the night his parents died fifteen years ago, nothing in the palace was the way it should be.

"Your Highness," the head guard greeted stiffly, "Perhaps we should turn around and head back to the palace. The Chancellor will be extremely worried by now."

"Bullshit," Natsume ground out angrily, "You all know my uncle doesn't want anything to do with me. All he wants is the throne. That's the only reason he's been sucking up to me for the past fifteen years." He scoffed, "The fucking _throne_. He can have it if he wants it, I want nothing to do with the very thing which killed my parents."

The guard coughed slightly, "Your language, sir. And I'm sure that's not true at all."

Natsume exhaled agitatedly. "If you let me go now -"

"There are no ifs, Your Highness. I apologize if we have to use force on you, but this is our job." To his credit, the guard did seem genuinely sorry at having to drag him back to the palace, Natsume thought, but like hell he was going back with them. He had had enough trouble coming this far, he wasn't going back to have to suffer again.

The wheels in his head turned quickly as Natsume sighed, "Fine. But surely you can oblige me a short ride as relaxation." He cast a look at the guard who was looking around awkwardly, "If you would like to tag along like a fucking pest, then be my guest."

He turned his horse around and set it into a slight gallop, the corners of his mouth turning up into a satisfied smirk as the guards started to follow him.

Everything was going exactly as planned.

* * *

It was way past nightfall when Mikan and Tsubasa finally returned home to the small wooden cottage with a thatched roof. When they entered the bedroom, Mikan immediately made a beeline for her mother. "Mother," she whispered urgently as she clasped the woman's hands in her own, "Why were you looking for me so urgently? What could be so important?"

The woman smiled at her, softening the lines around her crinkled eyes and mouth. "I simply missed you, my dear," she murmured as her eyes travelled slowly over Mikan's face. "I am so sorry..."

Mikan shook her head fervently as she felt the tears gathering in her eyes again. "No, what do you have to be sorry for? _I _am sorry, for making you slog for me your whole life, for making you turn out this way, for not being able to give you a good life... I am _so _sorry, Mother. If only I never existed, if only I -"

"What are you talking about? You are the only joy I have left in my life, the only single reminder of your father that I can grasp, how can you say -" She broke off into a coughing fit, and Tsubasa quickly went to her side with a cup of water, guiding her to drink it as Mikan watched helplessly, tears silently flowing down her cheeks.

"I know how you gave up your dreams for me, dear," she said when her cough had subsided, "and there is no need for you to do so."

This time, Tsubasa was the one who protested first. "Stop this nonsense, Yuka. You know how agonized Mikan is over your sickness. You know your situation. You need the flower of Yulia to survive, the physician said, but where are we going to find it? We can hardly afford such a rare herb even if it can be found, Yuka. Even so, you intend to drive Mikan away from you? How long do you think your life will stay before it eventually flickers out? Damn it, Yuka, you're not a child, you're a mother! Will you please think?"

Tsubasa's eyes were wild as he spoke, and he only stopped short when he felt Mikan's eyes on him. He turned guiltily, realizing that he had stepped out of line and certainly had revealed more than was necessary. "I -"

"The flower of Yulia? What's that, Tsubasa? My mother will die without it? You said she wasn't at such a serious stage yet!"

The silence in the room was heavy, and it was eons before Tsubasa found his voice. He wrung his hands resignedly and muttered, "No one's seen it, Mikan, it's just a legendary flower that's touted to be able to heal all illnesses. They say the fairies cultivate it, but who's to know for sure? I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to get your hopes up for a cure." He trained his eyes on the quivering girl in front of him. "She's not going to be able to hang on for long," he added quietly.

Mikan froze for a long while while thoughts of a life without her mother raced through her mind. She wouldn't be able to survive. How would she, without her mother?

"Then I'll find it. I'll go find the fairies and ask them for it. You said they cultivate it, right? I just have to find them -" Her voice broke into a teary sob as she sank into the stool beside Yuka's bed. Mikan blinked several times as she tried to get herself together, her hands shaking as she held onto her skirt.

"I said that nothing's certain, Mikan," Tsubasa held her shoulders and shook her exasperatedly, "I told you it's a legend! Are you going to go and look for something that might not even exist and throw away the rest of the time you have with your mother?"

He opened his mouth as Mikan let out another strangled sob, but before he could say anything, the door flew open, and a gust of cold wind blew into the room.

Mikan shivered involuntarily and immediately looked towards the door. She stared into eyes that were red – the colour of blood.

"Well," the boy at the door cocked his head and folded his arms together, "What a reception."

* * *

**A/N: **It's a pretty short chapter, but I hope it's still fine. The next chapter will be longer, of course. I hope this didn't bore you, it's just a set-up chapter where I develop the character's backgrounds slightly and their characters too. I wasn't going to end it here, but it became a good place to end it at, so... haha.

I'll be back soon this time!


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

It was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to shake the guards off for a while, but Natsume wasn't stupid. He knew that they would catch up to him sooner or later.

What he needed now was a place to hide. A place where even the smartest of the guards wouldn't be able to think of him being there.

His luck was better than it had ever been since he was born, apparently, for Natsume soon spotted a small, thatched cottage sitting on the edge of the clearing. He headed straight for it, knowing that he didn't have the time to check if it was booby-trapped or anything. He would just have to hope that his scheming uncle hadn't had the brains to try and preempt his escape attempt.

The sound of hooves coming up from behind him prompted him to move faster, and Natsume swung himself off of his horse agilely and made a beeline towards the house, shivering slightly at the cold gusts of wind that assailed him as he threw the broken, battered door open.

Natsume had been skeptical before about just how much protection and cover such a dilapidated cottage could offer him, but at the sight of the three people in the house, he felt himself relax just the little. If they would be willing to cooperate with him, perhaps it was not impossible to best the guards after him.

Natsume's eyes swept keenly over the room once before he realized that he was intruding on a pretty solemn moment. A girl with light, brown hair was staring at him in shock, while the tattooed man beside her looked poised to attack. There was another, sickly looking woman lying on the thin straw bed, an old, patched quilt thrown haphazardly over her frail body.

Well. He had just stepped in into a family's last goodbyes, it seemed.

For all his wit and intelligence, Natsume had never been good with dealing with affairs of the heart. From young, he had had to fend off various hypocritical officials whom attempted to get close to him to fool him. They had wanted to use his power to gain control of the kingdom. His uncle was another enigma that he had always defended himself against. His uncle seemed oddly nice to him, especially considering the fact that he and Natsume's father had always been at odds. In fact, the Chancellor almost seemed to treat Natsume like a son, opting to neglect his own son and lick Natsume's boots instead.

Natsume almost wanted to snort at the thought. This was the extent of his uncle's hunger for power, it seemed.

Having been exposed to trickery and treachery since the tender age of five, Natsume found himself at a loss of words, faced with a situation as such. He folded his arms together, cocking his head as he tried to think of something good to say, but what came out of his mouth was completely wrong, and completely inappropriate - "Well. What a reception," he muttered unthinkingly, mentally cursing himself as the brown-haired girl's mouth dropped open another inch, and the tattooed man grabbed the small cutting knife from its place against the wall.

He cussed softly. How in hell was he going to make them cooperate with him now? They'd probably be more than delighted to offer him to the guards as a common thief.

But time was running out. He had to try, no matter what. Natsume held his hands up as he raised an eyebrow at the knife in the tattooed man's hand. "Put that down," he said as he drew out his words slowly, "I'm not here to hurt any of you."

The man didn't seem to believe him at all, and it was only when the girl gestured to him – having finally regained her composure – did he finally put down the knife with a dark scowl on his face.

"I need you to cooperate with me," Natsume explained as he held the girl's gaze steadily, trying to convince her that he could be trusted, "I'm being pursued right now."

The girl came to the easiest, and worst possible conclusion she could come to. "You're a criminal," she muttered fervently as she came to her feet unsteadily. "You're a thief, a murderer... _what _are you?"

"Well you've obviously come to your own conclusions, haven't you?" Natsume snarled none too kindly. He wasn't in the mood to be misunderstood, and especially not for a criminal. "Was that even a question?"

"Wow, that's rude," she mumbled under her breath, as if she had never been treated this way in her entire life. Natsume fought the urge to roll his eyes. The tattooed man stepped forward menacingly, and the girl held out a hand. "No, Tsubasa," she murmured, "he's probably not anything harmful, he's dressed awfully nicely, for one..."

"Nice to see that you've noticed that _now_," Natsume snapped irritably, folding his arms again, "I really don't have time. Since you're convinced now that I'm not a thief or a murderer, will you cooperate with me so that the bastards after me don't find me? Don't ask anything, it's a yes or no question," he added hastily as the sound of hooves started to get clearer.

"Mikan..." Tsubasa started to protest as he reached for the knife again, "we shouldn't get ourselves embroiled into whatever trouble he's gotten himself into with the authorities. We're common people, Mikan, we don't stand a chance against them!"

The girl called Mikan sucked her cheeks in nervously. "You'll explain it all later, won't you? When they're gone?"

"Well, if you're really that interested in my life story considering that you just met me two minutes ago when I burst into your house, then fine."

Mikan's cheeks coloured considerably before she took a quick glance out the door. "Close the door, will you?" she asked, "My mother will get cold, and we need time to hide you."

Natsume would be lying if he said that he wasn't surprised at her willing compliance to his demands, because to be honest, she really didn't need to. He reached for the door and pulled it close, all the same. "Then?"

Her eyes flickered around the room as she tried to think of something, but Tsubasa cut in quickly. "There're the boxes of wood in the backroom, Mikan," he said as he cast a grudging look at Natsume, "he can stay there while we fend off the chasers."

"Yes," Mikan nodded her head relievedly, "Yes, that's right. I forgot all about the boxes. Please come with me."

She pushed open the door to the left, and Natsume followed her as he was told to do so, but he couldn't resist saying sardonically, "You're really trusting, aren't you? Agreeing to help a stranger escape from authorities."

"You should be glad that I am, shouldn't you? Taking a jibe at me isn't really going to make me any more willing to help you. I just thought..." Mikan turned to look at him thoughtfully, "I just thought you didn't seem like a bad guy." She led him into the backroom, where dozens of boxes were piled on top of each other. "I guess I can leave you to hide yourself properly, now." She headed towards the door again. "Please refrain from... damaging any of my property," she added warningly as she backed out of the door and closed it so that it didn't make any sound at all.

Natsume exhaled incredulously. All that there was in the room were some boxes of firewood. Why would he want to damage them, and what would he do with them? The girl was evidently even more of an idiot than he thought she was.

He settled for squatting between two large boxes, piling some on top of each other so that they would cover him from view if anyone entered the room.

Then he prayed fervently that the idiot who was supposed to help him wouldn't mess this up too terribly.

* * *

Mikan simply wanted to do a good deed, really, but as she watched the troop of guards coming to a halt in front of her home, looking more menacing than that dog she had been so afraid of since young, she almost regretted her decision.

How easy it would be, she thought, to simply give up that man's position and let the guards take him away, instead of letting them find out on their own and exposing Tsubasa and her poor mother to any possible torture?

Mikan turned to glance at Tsubasa, who was pacing the edge of the clearing impatiently, his eyes occasionally darting up to look at the imposing group of people who were approaching the clearing. "You don't have to stay, Tsubasa," she said softly, "I made the choice to help him. There's no reason to drag you into this."

"I can't get why you would so readily agree to help a stranger," Tsubasa said gruffly, "but there's no way I'm leaving you to fend for yourself. I'm the big brother," he added, "I'm supposed to take care of you."

Mikan smiled up at him gratefully just as the guards stopped in front of her and got off their horses. "Girl," the leader of the group inquired roughly, "have you seen a boy with black hair and red eyes go past here?"

She tried to look as innocent as she could, blinking slightly as she wrung her hands and replied, "No, sir, no one has passed this clearing since this morning, when the village woodcutter came to deposit some wood in my house."

The guard didn't seem to buy any of that, and looked towards Tsubasa for confirmation. "It's true, sir," Tsubasa declared, "I haven't seen anyone and I've been here since before the sun set."

The guard scoffed before drawing the sword he had secured to his belt, pointing it at Mikan. Tsubasa started, but Mikan forced herself to be composed, smiling regally at the guard as she reiterated her point, "I'm not lying, sir."

"You'd do better not to try and hide him, lass," the guard snarled, "he's the Royal Prince, completely out of your league. We'll never harm him if you give him up to us. Now come on, lass, tell us where he's hiding."

Mikan froze. The Royal _Prince_? The man who had burst into her house asking for help in hiding from his assailants was Prince Natsume Hyuuga? She licked her suddenly dry lips, cursing herself for falling into his trap so easily. He didn't need to hide from the guards at all. They were _his _servants! She was going through these threats for nothing!

"What the hell!" Tsubasa cursed as he stepped forward, "I'll tell you -"

"That he's not here," Mikan finished for him hastily. Tsubasa stared at her in shock. "He's not here," she repeated firmly, "Please think about it. Why would the Prince be hiding in a place like this? He would be better off hiding somewhere else, where he will be able to gain adequate protection and better treatment."

The guard paused as he regarded her, then eventually sheathed his sword again as he made his way back to his team and gave the others to move on. Before he left, however, he turned to cast a last look at Mikan, narrowing his eyes at her. "You better not be lying, lass," he warned, "If I find out that you are, you'll be sure that I'll be back, and by that time, you'll be worrying for your life, both of you."

Then they were gone, and Mikan felt herself let out the breath that she hadn't even realized that she had been holding. She couldn't get over the fact that her life had just been threatened. Hers and her mother's. All because of that obnoxious prince who thought it would be fun to run away from home! She huffed indignantly as she made her way back into the house, Tsubasa trailing after her.

"You should have let them take him. Why did you lie, Mikan?" Tsubasa asked as he closed the door behind him.

"I thought it better to honour my promise," Mikan pursed her lips as she headed towards the backroom. "But nothing is going to stop me from butchering him myself now. He's not going to let those pigs harm you or Mother!" She flung the door open with uneccesary force, but there was no need to have to drag Natsume out by his collar. He was already there, at the door.

"They're gone," he stated simply. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Of course they are," Tsubasa hissed, "we risked our lives to get them away from here, _Your Highness_."

"Why did you lie?" Mikan demanded, her hands on her hips.

Natsume was unfazed as he walked around the both of them into the main room, where Yuka stared bewilderedly at all the happenings. "I didn't," he said matter-of-factly, "You never asked me who I was."

Mikan bit her tongue as she realized that it was true. She hadn't thought to ask him for his identity before, for she had honestly thought that it was an emergency, and what was important was keeping him away from his assailants. "Well," she huffed indignantly, "if I had known I would never have helped you with this charade! You're going back to them right now, of your own accord," she continued, "and you're going to make them promise not to harm my mother or Tsubasa."

Her eyes were glinting, Natsume noticed, and he sighed before answering, "Why would I need you to hide me if I'm going to just go back in the first place? And they won't harm your family," he nodded at Tsubasa and Yuka, "The village of Glane is a demilitarized zone set by the fairies thousands of years ago. It has always been cut off from wordly affairs, a perfect abode for people who don't wish to get too involved in anything. They wouldn't dare to use force here even if they had balls of iron." He scoffed, "Which they apparently don't have."

Mikan flinched a little at his crude use of language. "They pulled a _sword_ on me," she insisted.

"And you were stupid enough to believe that they would harm you," Natsume muttered under his breath.

"Why you – Natsume Hyuuga!"

"You don't seem to have much respect for the prince, do you?" Natsume cocked an eyebrow at her as he repeated once again, "They're not going to hurt you or your family. Seriously."

Mikan visibly deflated. "Well, then, why did you run away?"

"Wait – you're just going to let it go like that?" Tsubasa asked, his expression incredulous. "Hey, we almost died -"

Natsume looked at him dryly. "You're pretty thick-headed too, aren't you?"

Tsubasa hissed, rolling up his sleeves as he geared up for a fight, but Mikan merely repeated her question, "Why did you run away?"

Natsume's expression turned dark as a muscle in his jaw twitched, "I hardly think that's any of your business."

Mikan bristled a little, but she knew he was right, she was stepping into territories that she had no right to be stepping into. "Why, are you concerned about him now?" Tsubasa asked agitatedly, "We don't have the time or heart to care about him, Mikan. What we need now is the Flower of Yulia, not some pompous prince who thinks he's all that!"

Natsume stiffened when he heard the name. The Flower of Yulia. How long had it been since he had heard someone mention that godforsaken name? His weird actions didn't go past Tsubasa's notice, nor Mikan's. "You know it?" she asked hopefully as she came closer.

Natsume's expression only grew darker, as Tsubasa joined in, echoing Mikan's question, "Wait, you know about the Flower of Yulia? You know where to find it?"

When he remained silent, Mikan pressed on pleadingly, tears starting to gather in her eyes again, "If you know something, please tell us," she pleaded as she grabbed onto his arm, "We really need it. My mother will die without it."

"If you will, Your Highness, please let us know."

The voice was unexpected. Natsume turned in the direction of the voice and saw Yuka, her lips upturned into a weak smile as she looked his way. He swallowed the heavy lump in his throat and looked away. "Don't look for it. That's all that I can say," he let out with much difficulty. "You won't find it."

Mikan's face fell so drastically that even Tsubasa felt a painful tug at his heart. This was it. Their only hope was gone. "You mean... it really doesn't exist?" Tsubasa prodded hesitantly.

Natsume shook his head. "No, it does. _She _does. But she won't help you. There's too much hatred in her heart for her to put it down and actually aid humans. She hates all of us. You don't stand a chance."

"She...?" Mikan's eyes widened as her grip on Natsume's arm tightened, "The Flower of Yulia is a human? Isn't it a herb?"

Natsume smirked, albeit humourlessly. "Human? No," he sighed, "She's a fairy. They say she's incredibly beautiful, the most beautiful fairy in the fairy kingdom of Yulia. Just like a flower. That's why she's called the Flower of Yulia. She's the only fairy who's well versed enough in the arts to be able to impart some of her life force to people. That's why she's said to be able to heal all illnesses." He looked pointedly at Mikan.

"The Flower of Yulia doesn't provide a cure," he added, "She provides life."

"The kingdom of Yulia..." Mikan muttered under her breath, "So you do know where it is."

Natsume blinked. "I only have a very rough idea. Legend says that she used to be with the royal family. But she loved, and was betrayed. After that incident no one ever saw her again. It'll be better if you don't try to find her. So what if you do? She'll never agree to help you. The consequences are too great." Natsume shot a sharp look at Mikan before repeating, "Don't try to find her."

"Mikan..." Tsubasa murmured sympathetically, "perhaps it _is _time that you should give up."

Mikan was silent for a long while. "No," she finally said, "if there's even a slight chance that Mother will live, I'll take it. You know where she is," she turned imploringly towards Natsume, "Please, please take me there. I won't ask for more help than that. Please just take me there. I'll talk to her myself."

"I already said that no one's seen her for centuries," Natsume said grimly. "I'm not going to go on a journey with you that far to find something that probably doesn't exist."

"You're lying," Mikan said confidently, "I saw the look in your eyes when we mentioned her. You don't just know about her. You _know _her. You know she exists and you've seen her."

Natsume took a few steps back, taken aback by Mikan's surprising perceptiveness. He should have been more on guard with her. He shouldn't have underestimated the girl and thought her a klutz. "Please," she asked again.

"You owe her that much, don't you think?" Tsubasa said, his hands balled into fists by his side, "If she wants to go, you should take her."

"The both of you are crazy," Natsume almost spluttered, if not for the fact that he could hold himself very well. "Haven't I already said that she won't help you?"

"Will you have me watch my mother die?" Mikan sobbed as she sank to her knees. "She's the only family I have left, don't you know that feeling? To lose something so important..."

"I know it all too well," Natsume said darkly, "which is why I'm telling you to give up now. When it's easier to. When the disappointment isn't so great."

"It'll always be hard to let go. No matter when, I'll never be ready. It'll always be hard. I'd rather I let go of her knowing that I have tried to keep her by my side. I'll never forgive myself otherwise," Mikan said fervently, tears spilling over her cheeks.

Natsume shifted uncomfortably. He glanced at her, then at Tsubasa. They were both wearing the same look on their faces, he noticed. The look of fierce hope for the future. The look of determination, the will to do anything, just to protect the ones that they loved.

He remembered that he once had that look on his face too. Fifteen years ago, when he still had something to protect.

"I'm heading towards Touranne," he grated out exasperatedly. "Yulia is supposedly a bit further off east to Touranne, I'll go with you only until Touranne. You'll be on your own after that." He hated himself almost immediately for agreeing to take her. Taking a girl along with him would certainly not improve his chances of reaching Touranne undetected by the royal troops.

Mikan, however, looked as if he had just given her all the Christmas presents she could possibly receive in her entire life. "Thank you," she said genuinely, "That would be enough."

"I'm going too -" Tsubasa started, but Mikan stopped him. "No, Tsubasa. Mother needs someone to care for her. You know you can't go, I don't wish to put you through any danger as well. You'll have to stay here to look after Mother."

"But -" He looked as if he wanted to say more, but after some contemplation kept his mouth shut. Mikan patted his arm reassuringly before turning back to Natsume. "When do we leave?"

He looked at her for a long while. Then, he ran a hand tiredly through his tousled black hair, leaving it even more disheveled than before. It mirrored the chaos inside his mind right now, he thought.

"When dawn breaks, we leave for Touranne."

* * *

**A/N: **Chapter 2 up! I managed to finish it in a shorter amount of time than I thought, and as promised, it's quite a bit longer, isn't it? I hope you guys enjoy it! Everything will be kickstarted in the next chapter, so things should be getting interesting pretty soon!


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

He should have suggested that they leave immediately. But he didn't, for he had planned to wait it out first, just to make sure that the guards after him wouldn't be lying in ambush somewhere.

Oh, how much Natsume regretted his decision to wait till dawn broke.

The atmosphere in the tiny cottage was more than awkward as he stood stiffly to the side and watched Mikan exchange teary goodbyes with her mother. _If you hate leaving her so much_, he thought, _then just don't waste your time leaving. _He inched away from the trio slowly, making his way towards the backroom. He would seek refuge there, he thought, refuge from all this cheesiness that was numbing his senses.

The scene that was unfolding before him right now reminded him too much of how his family had been like before his parents died, and to say it disconcerted him was an understatement.

Natsume had spent too much time trying to forget, and he hated how Mikan Sakura made him remember again – all too clearly.

He remembered everything that had happened on that night fifteen years ago. On the night that his life fell apart. His mother's screams, the servant's shouts, and the way his father had fallen to the ground, right in front of his eyes.

He would never forgive her, he knew. He had begged and pleaded and knelt before her, telling her that he would do anything, _anything_ if she would save his parents. Just them.

But she had heartlessly turned away from him and walked away. He had been abandoned and betrayed, by the one person he trusted the most. He hadn't understood. His five year-old mind had been fogged up at that time by all the bloodshed, by the pain of loss that was wringing his tiny heart.

It was only later that Natsume found out that his parents hadn't had to die. She had caused it all. She had caused it all, then left before anyone found out.

She left them all to die.

"Hey, kid," Tsubasa jabbed Natsume's arm as he came over to lean on the wall next to him. Natsume shot him a nonchalant look, shielding his current turmoil carefully.

"You'll take care of her, won't you?" Tsubasa asked imploringly. It was possibly the closest he would ever come to begging Natsume, and he would, if he had to. Mikan was just like his dearest kin, a part of his extended family. He had a lot of qualms about simply handing her over to Natsume like that, certainly, but he knew he had no chance of convincing Mikan not to go. "She's like the little sister I never had," he added awkwardly, "if I could I would protect her myself but... you have to promise that you won't let her get hurt."

Natsume straightened up. "I can't promise something like that," he said bluntly, "She's the one who wanted to go. I told the both of you that it's useless, didn't I? And to be honest, I don't know what will happen on the way." He paused and blinked. "You can think me a bastard all you want, but there's no way I'm going to be able to ensure her safety, and I'm not about to risk my life for her if she's just going to be an extra baggage."

Tsubasa's eyebrows furrowed together, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally sighing in acquiescence. "I know she's not your responsibility. I get that you don't even like the idea of having to take her with you, okay? But she's family, and I just – I'm making this request of you even though I know you don't have the obligation to do so. I'm sure you would do the same if she was your sister."

When Natsume stayed silent, Tsubasa heaved another heavy sigh and went to Mikan, leaving him alone once more.

Sister. That word was foreign to Natsume, because he had never had one. He was going to have one, he remembered. Before his mother died along with his sister in her stomach. His stomach clenched and churned as he fought to keep himself in control. When he looked outside the window, trying to find his composure, he noticed that the first rays of the sun were already started to peek out through the clouds. The time had passed faster than he thought it would.

"It's dawn," he announced flatly.

The faces of the three other people in the room immediately dropped, and Mikan seemed to get onto her feet with much difficulty and reluctance. "We have to leave now?" she asked meekly.

He met her gaze. "You can stay," he said, "but I'm definitely leaving now." He had to be on the road, or he would never be able to forget.

Natsume started to move towards the door, but just as his hands closed over the handle, he turned to glance at Mikan. She was holding her mother's hands, smiling warmly as she said her goodbyes. "I'll definitely come back with help for you, Mother," he heard her promise as she let go of her mother's hand.

Natsume heard himself snort as he stepped out of the door, Tsubasa's shout of "Take care of her!" following him. Then Mikan was beside him, a small bundle slung over her shoulders as her petite frame struggled to keep pace with him. He eyed the bundle skeptically. "What's in that?"

"My clothes, and some water and food," she replied cheerily. "We need that for a journey, don't we?"

Natsume fell silent, feeling oddly irritated at her sudden optimism. "You gave her false hopes," he accused, eyeing Mikan from the corner of his eyes.

Her smile didn't even falter. "No," she replied carefully. "I made her a promise. A promise that I intend to keep."

Natsume decided then and there that trying to knock some sense into the thick-headed girl was literally impossible, so he settled with rolling his eyes and ignoring her. For a while, the only sound around them was that of the crunching of leaves and twigs.

"Where are we going next?" Mikan asked after some time. When there was no reply, she continued, "Why are you so moody?"

Natsume couldn't resist snapping at her. "Because I have an extra responsibility which I didn't even ask for!"

How the girl could remained unfazed when he was practically baring his teeth at her, he didn't know. "I promise that I won't drag you down. I'll be of help, I promise!" She held out a pinky to him, and he had some vague, savage thoughts of twisting it just to wipe the smile off her face.

Natsume looked away from her, reminding himself that he wasn't a barbarian, he was royalty. "We're heading into town," he said curtly.

Mikan looked baffled. "But, you aren't supposed to be so conspicuous, are you? The guards will find you!"

"Oh, now you start worrying about whether I get caught or not. I'll take you to Touranne as promised, so stop getting your panties into a twist, idiot."

Mikan's face turned bright pink again, and Natsume scoffed, "What a prude."

"I was educated this way!" she cried indignantly.

"I say your education is a success, despite how little you probably received," Natsume muttered as he gave her a once-over. Mikan grinded her teeth and huffed as she turned away from him.

They were both ignoring each other now, but as they neared the town walls, Natsume couldn't help but think that their pointless banter had taken his mind off the things that he wished to forget, and that silence with her was not an uncomfortable one.

* * *

They reached the capital town of Lavencia without any trouble at all, and Natsume couldn't help but worry about what this could possibly mean. The lack of guards at the town gates was something to worry about, for the guards couldn't possibly be so stupid to wander off from their posts, especially when the Prince was currently missing. He kept his senses on high alert as he made his way through the bustling crowd in the marketplace, keeping a firm grip on Mikan's wrist to make sure that she stayed with him even as the crowd jostled them both.

They stopped in front of a shabby tavern that had a 'CLOSED' sign hung sloppily over its door, and Natsume pushed the unlocked door open, the jingling from the bell attached to the door publicly announcing their arrival.

Mikan merely followed meekly, not knowing what they were doing in a place like this. A place where courtesans were rampant and drunken, obnoxious men frequented. She shuddered simply at the thought of the debauchery that places like this promoted.

Natsume noticed her reaction, and his lips curled into a mocking sneer. "Prude," he mouthed. Mikan started, then shoved her foot into his shin. He hissed in pain as he dropped her wrist to tend to his injured limb instead, casting a death glare at her.

"My, my, Natsume, since when do you bring your own girls to a place like this?" A young man with dirty blonde, tousled hair popped out from behind the bar counter and grinned. "Is she for sale?"

Mikan's mouth widened in horror as she realized the implications of what he was asking, while Natsume simply replied irritably, "Depends on the price you offer me."

The boy came out from behind the counter, tapping a finger on his chin thoughtfully as he assessed Mikan, who had taken to hiding behind Natsume, the latter only viciously shoving her away as she came closer to him. "She should be worth around two hundred," he murmured to himself, then stuck his tongue into his cheek. "Well, for being a girl who dares to kick the Prince in the shin, two hundred and fifty. It's a fine deal, isn't it, Natsume? Will you sell?" His eyes were twinkling as he watched Mikan cling onto Natsume's arm for dear life.

Natsume glanced down at the girl whose face had already turned a deathly shade of white. He exhaled sharply and said, "I doubt you'd want her, Koko. She'll ruin the reputation of your place."

Mikan relaxed considerably, and Koko let out a jolly guffaw as he mock bowed at her. "I apologize, lady," he said in between laughs, "I was just joking. Of course I don't intend to buy you. It's just, I can't believe you believed me!"

"And you'll let go of me now," Natsume added bluntly. Mikan turned red and jumped at least three feet away from him. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Koko took her hand and shook it firmly. "The name's Koko, dear lady. And your name is -?"

"Mikan," Mikan replied, managing a smile at the friendly blonde.

Koko nodded good-naturedly before turning to Natsume, "So, Your Royal Highness, what is the matter that makes you venture into my lowdown tavern in bright daylight? The ladies only work at night," he winked at Natsume as Mikan winced at the hidden meaning of his words.

Natsume's lips tilted into a grudging half-smile, testament of the apparent closeness between him and Koko. "I need to leave the country."

Koko's smile dropped off his face as his expression quickly became sombre. "Why?" he prodded, "Is your uncle giving you any problems?"

Natsume shook his head as he gestured towards Mikan, who was still awkwardly standing around. "I just need a getaway. I think I'm heading to Touranne to see Ruka and the others. This girl," he pointed rudely at Mikan, "is after the Flower of Yulia, she's going with me on the way to Touranne."

Koko's expression turned darker, if even possible. "You shouldn't," he said to Mikan.

"You know about her too?" Mikan asked incredulously. When Koko gave her a curt nod, she continued, "Isn't she supposed to be a legend? How come so many people know about her and what she really is?"

"I told you, she was with the royal family before," Natsume muttered under his breath.

"You said it was centuries ago!" Mikan protested, looking genuinely distressed at the fact that everything she was told didn't seem to match up.

"She's Natsume's godmother," Koko chimed in. Natsume shot him a look that plainly said 'Drop dead', while Mikan's jaw fell open.

"What?" she whispered loudly in disbelief.

"Whoa, dude," Koko held his hands up as he backed away from Natsume, "I didn't think it's such a big deal if she knows. Everyone has godmothers."

"But not all have fairy godmothers who have the power to bestow life," Mikan reasoned, "I thought that only happens in fairytales."

"Okay, okay," Koko cut in hastily as he watched Natsume's face grow darker with every passing second. "Let's go into one of the rooms, okay? It won't look good if people look in to see you standing in a tavern dressed in all your finery, Natsume. Come on, let's go in, you can kill me inside."

Natsume grunted his approval and roughly tugged Mikan along as Koko led the way. Mikan let out a small squeak of surprise before the trio disappeared into a room.

The tavern was seemingly empty once more, closed in the day.

* * *

"I need your help to get out of the country," Natsume said once they were safely inside one of the guestrooms. "A disguise, anything."

"I get it," Koko nodded as he sat down at the edge of the bed in a corner. Mikan sat comfotably on the armchair available beside Natsume. The room was too well decorated for a mere tavern, Mikan thought. It looked as if it was fit for royalty. "Natsume financed it," Koko said helpfully, when he caught sight of Mikan's curious glances. "This is his room."

"You have your own room in a _tavern_?" Mikan asked, trying not to link this bit of information to any inappropriate inferences.

"I need to leave by today," Natsume continued as he ignored Mikan's question, "If not, they're bound to find me soon enough. I don't intend to drag you and your business down in this shit, so let's think of something fast."

"Why can't we just leave?" Mikan asked innocently. She honestly didn't understand why they were going through all this trouble. If they just ran out, who could stop them in time?

"Because he's a _prince_, that's why not, Mikan dear," Koko replied, shaking his head sympathetically. "And no shit, Natsume. I'm closing down and coming with you."

"No."

"_Yes_. Without my high intelligence and resourcefulness, how far do you think you can go even if you manage to leave the country? They'll come after you, they'll catch you and her, and then you go back to the palace, and she dies." Koko's expression was completely serious, so much that Mikan felt a cold shiver travel down her spine.

"...Die?" she echoed almost inaudibly.

"I hate to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but this thing isn't as simple as you think it is. What will people think if they find you with Natsume? Their first conclusion is going to be that you seduced him and you're trying to elope with him. That's a far better thing to think than the fact that the prince ran away, right? The guards won't hesitate to kill you just to prove that story." Koko looked back at Natsume, who was looking steadily at Mikan's paling face.

"I told you to stay home," Natsume sighed.

"This is where I come in," Koko continued confidently. "Come on, dude, you know you need me for this."

Natsume paused for a while, looking between Koko and Mikan. "Fine," he finally said. "What do you have in mind?"

Koko smirked as he went out of the room, "Wait a minute."

When he came back, he was holding a few pieces of clothing, one of which was the elaborate clothing of a courtesan. The other was the simple clothing that a bartender or a servant would wear. Natsume raised an eyebrow at the clothes, seemingly already understanding what Koko had in mind, while Mikan stared curiously at him. "What are these for?" she asked.

"I'm moving my business," Koko replied, grinning widely. "How do you feel about becoming a courtesan, Mikan?"

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter up! I won't be able to update for around three to four days after this, so this is for all of you until then! Thank you to those who are supporting this story, I truly hope it can live up to your expectations! Cheers.

And to **Peachs**, the description of the fairy will come later in the story, naturally when Natsume and Mikan find her - or not? It'll be pretty awkward if I just stuff in a description of her right now, so please understand when I say that it'll come later. :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice is not my property. :(

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Mikan was pretty certain that she had jumped out of her seat. "W-wh-what?" she stuttered, her face reddening and her eyes wide in horror. "Me..._courtesan_?" She pointed wildly at the piece of clothing as if it hurt her eyes just to look at it.

Koko seemed honestly taken aback by her reaction, while Natsume simply went "tsk" and rolled his eyes. "Uh – no, I didn't really mean..." Koko jumped up, looking both bewildered and flustered at the hyperventilating girl before him.

"I should have warned you, Koko," Natsume said with a condescending glance sent Mikan's way, "She's a _prude_. She's going to take anything you say seriously." He looked at Mikan again. "Hurry and explain what you mean to her before she dies of shock."

Mikan was still gaping like a goldfish, but now it was mostly because of her anger at Natsume. Koko, sensing the atmosphere in the room rise to a fever pitch, hurriedly stepped in between the two people and shoved a hand in front of each of their faces. "Okay, cut it out, let me talk."

Mikan calmed down considerably after a few sharp glares at Natsume. She pursed her lips, "Koko, I don't really think I want to be a courtesan. I _can't_. It's... not for me."

Koko grinned, as easygoing as ever. He waved the clothes in her face, relishing the way she flinched and moved away as if it was going to bite her. "I'm not asking you to really be one, Mikan," he explained, "I'm telling you to _pretend_ to be one."

"Huh?"

Natsume sat down in the armchair that Mikan had just vacated, an eyebrow raised as he watched her splutter all over again.

Comprehension didn't seem as if it would be gracing Mikan anytime soon, as her eyes widened. "This is... mind boggling," she managed to say. "Why would I want to pretend to be a courtesan?"

Koko blinked a few times and swallowed his spit, looking desperately towards Natsume. "Give up," Natsume mouthed mercilessly, and Koko pressed his palms together into a pleading sign. "I've known you for all the twenty years that you've lived!" he cried desperately.

One corner of Natsume's lips tugged to the side as he exhaled. "All you have to do is wear the clothes," he told Mikan as she nodded understandingly, "It's your disguise. So we don't get caught. Just wear the clothes and pretend you know what you're doing."

"Oh." Mikan's mouth opened into a small 'o' as she clasped her hands together and nodded. "I can do that."

"Of course you can!" Koko chirped happily, "I got the best of the very best to help you! I had to kneel down and beg her just to get her to agree to do this, so work hard, Mikan!" He clapped twice, "Come in!"

"Huh?" Mikan went again, "I thought I just had to wear the clothes -"

Natsume slapped a hand on his forehead. "Please don't tell me you have Shouda on the other side of the door, Koko."

Then the door opened, and just as a woman sailed gracefully into the room with her skirts dragging behind her, Mikan heard Natsume heave the heaviest sigh ever. She looked at the woman curiously, and found herself pleasantly stunned. She was beautiful, with her curled green locks piled up into an elegant bun, and strong, thick makeup accentuating her features. Her jade green eyes stood out from her pale, smooth complexion, and her elegant poise and knowing look just made her look even more appealing.

Mikan thought she would fall in love if she weren't a girl too, but as it was, she was a tad bit jealous that she didn't look half as good as the woman standing before her. She pulled at her skirt self consciously, raising another hand to pat what she knew was a messy head of plain brown hair.

"Tada!" Koko opened his arms wide excitedly, "Sumire Shouda, best courtesan in the state! I'm not kidding you, Mikan, she really is the best, and I got her to teach you how to use your feminine wiles to your advantage!"

"Feminine wiles?" Mikan frowned weakly as Natsume snorted from his seat, immediately garnering the attention of the beautiful courtesan.

In an instant, Sumire was fawning over Natsume at his side. "Your Highness! I didn't know you were here at this time! If Koko had told me -" she shot a nasty glare at Koko, "-I would have been over immediately! Forgive me, will you?" She batted her eyelashes sweetly at him, in a way that even Mikan found was attractive. So this was why men always frequented taverns, she thought, because they could find women of this calibre there, perhaps?

Natsume just looked slightly irritated, however. "I would prefer very much if you had kicked him when he knelt down to beg you and refused to come," he said dryly, massaging his temple.

Sumire clutched onto the sides of his armchair as she bent down closer to him, cooing, "Oh, don't say that, darling. You know you don't mean that -"

"Ahem," Koko coughed rather obviously, and the courtesan's gaze travelled to him. Her gaze changed rather abruptly, Mikan noticed from where she stood. While she had been looking at Natsume lovingly and adoringly before, right now the only word that could be used to describe how she was looking at Koko was – evil.

Mikan felt herself shudder at the amount of animosity she felt from that glare alone.

"Ahaha," Koko grinned awkwardly as he pointed at Mikan, "You're here for her, remember? Not for him."

Sumire pursed her lips and straightened up regally as she turned to regard Mikan with a calculative gaze. Her face was devoid of any emotion as she looked Mikan up and down, three times in total. Then she clicked her tongue, "Why did you pick such a lost cause, Koko?" she lamented as her shoulders slumped. "Pretty, yes, but look at that demeanour! How do you expect me to turn her into a courtesan when she's the type that stays at home and knits sweaters for all her neighbours? Goodness. Don't you have any sense?" she asked as she glared accusingly at Koko.

Mikan couldn't even count the number of times she'd been insulted in this one day alone. "I don't knit!" she cried, shooting a withering look at a very amused Natsume in the armchair.

"Surely you can do me this favour, sweetheart," Koko smiled as he came over to stand beside Sumire, winking at her rather shamelessly.

Sumire blinked and scoffed, "Since I promised, I'll do what I can, of course." She looked at Mikan forlornly, "Though I fail to see how exactly you expect this to work out."

* * *

The layers of clothes that Mikan had to put on was stifling and rather heavy, and Mikan wished for nothing else then to just strip everything off and put on her comfortable dress again. Natsume and Koko had both vacated the room to give her some privacy for her 'lessons' with Sumire.

They hadn't really gotten to the learning part. All Sumire was doing was dabbing layers and layers of thick powder on her face. When she was done, she turned Mikan towards the little bronze mirror sitting on the dresser. "Take a look," she ordered authoritatively, and Mikan found her head turning to face the mirror automatically.

"Who's this?" she asked as she pointed at the face reflected in the mirror. "Is this _me?_" she added, sounding a little more incredulous.

Sumire nodded proudly, looking satisfied with herself. "Yes," she replied, "You're lucky I'm doing this for you, girl. If it was someone else it might not have turned out so well. But well, you originally had a pretty good complexion, so some blusher did the trick."

Mikan hardly heard a word that she was saying as she stared at the girl – herself – in the mirror, wondering how on earth make-up could make a person look so different in a matter of minutes. The girl in the mirror had light brown hair pulled up into a casual yet tasteful bun, light strands of hair let down to frame her face, giving her a softer look. Her lips were coloured a faint, light pink that made the make-up seem almost natural, and the blusher that had been applied onto her cheeks gave her a perpetual air of coyness. Add that to the thick layers of elaborate, fancy clothes that she was wearing, and -

She really did look like a courtesan, Mikan thought.

She didn't know if she was supposed to be horrified by that revelation. A courtesan was something that she had never thought she could be before, and finding out that she could really be one was terrifying to a certain extent. So all it took was this much before a person became another person.

She was still deep in her thoughts when Sumire pulled her to her feet unceremoniously, leading her to the bed and seating her there as the courtesan herself sat down next to her. "Now, for your lessons," she declared, "Learning how to be seductive will be difficult for someone like you, definitely," the condescending look was back in her eyes as she turned Mikan to face her, "but I guess we'll have to try, won't we? Put this on your head." She held out a thick, bound book to Mikan, who stared at it with wide eyes.

Sumire tutted when Mikan didn't move after a while. "Go on, hurry, you'll at least have to look graceful when you walk."

* * *

Natsume took small sips of the hot chocolate that Koko had offered him a while ago as he occasionally turned to glance at the closed door. The plan was going to fail. They were going to have to think of something else. There was just no fucking way this was going to work. He glanced at Koko, who was deep in thought, over the rim of his cup. "I can't believe you told her to be a courtesan."

Koko's normally sunny demeanour was gone as he regarded Natsume with a solemn expression. "It's the only way you're going to make it out," he said casually, "by using the most ridiculous idea I can think of. That way, they'll never think of it."

They were both sitting at the bar counter, facing each other. The sky was already starting to darken as it neared the time of sunset. Mikan had been inside the room for a whole day, and between snippets of conversation, they always heard one or two screams of frustration coming from inside the room. "You seriously think this will work?" Natsume asked with all seriousness, cursing softly when his beverage scalded his tongue.

Koko laughed harshly. "Who knows? It'll have to, if you're planning to have her live. But the problem isn't her, is it? It's _you_."

Natsume stiffened, but he met Koko's gaze straight on. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't forgotten. You're looking for her," Koko said. It wasn't a question, it was a sure statement, said as if Koko knew exactly what Natsume was thinking.

"I'm going to Touranne," Natsume said, half in reply to Koko, half in an almost pathetic attempt to convince himself.

Koko's knuckles turned white from the force with which he was holding his cup. "No, you're not. You're going to risk your life all over again." His voice was strained, almost pleading.

Their eyes met again, Natsume's dark with renewed anguish.

"I'm not going to let you do it," Koko murmured softly. "Not when you saved mine."

* * *

"You have to make sure you brush it lightly over his skin," Sumire said as she guided Mikan's hand in a soft, sweeping motion. "Make sure he feels it, but don't give him too much. Goodness, girl, can you not be so clumsy?" She dropped Mikan's hand exasperatedly as Mikan made several awkward motions with her hands.

"I hardly think failing at being a seductress means that I'm clumsy," Mikan huffed as she tried again.

They had been at this for the whole day, and it had been plain torture, for not only was Mikan not interested in the subject she was being taught in, it was torture to her senses to have to 'think like a courtesan', as Sumire said.

"You have to pretend that you really really want him," Sumire emphasized as she stood before Mikan. "Even if you really don't. Once you can make it seem convincing, you pass."

Mikan stared uncomprehendingly at her. They engaged in what seemed to be a staring battle for a while, before Sumire sighed. "We can't go on like this. The sun is setting. We're leaving tonight." She looked towards the door, a glint appearing in her eyes.

Before Mikan could register what was happening, the courtesan was ushering her to the door and opening it, pushing her outside roughly, without half the grace that she usually had. "Try it on him," Sumire ordered, pointing a elaborately manicured hand at Natsume, who was sitting in a wooden chair by the window with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. "Huh?" Mikan gaped.

Sumire raised a hand to push Mikan's mouth closed. "Remember," she told Mikan, "Walk gracefully – even if he can't really see it at the moment – and light touches, okay?" She pushed a reluctant Mikan closer to their target. Natsume didn't even stir.

"You're pushing me into a deep hole even though you know it's a hole?" Mikan cried incredulously, blinking profusely in confusion and horror.

Sumire gave her a sharp look as they came to a stop in front of Natsume. She looked around. "No Koko, huh? That makes things easier."

She patted Mikan's quivering back. "Don't be such a scaredy cat, girl. You're going to have to do it to survive. Just do it," she whispered as she elbowed Mikan.

"Ow," Mikan whined as she looked balefully at her 'tutor'. "You're not half as graceful as you look like you are."

"Shut up and do it."

Mikan turned to Natsume grudgingly, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized him. Was he really asleep? She'd never be able to live this down if he woke up! "What kind of test is it when he won't even know?" she grumbled to herself.

"Oh, he'll know alright," Sumire declared confidently. "That is, if you do it right."

Mikan raised her hand reluctantly and reached it towards Natsume's arm, her cheeks already turning pink at the prospect of the shameless act she was about to commit. She was assaulting someone while they were defenseless! Just how low had she sunken...

Sumire grabbed her arm and jerked it upwards roughly. "Not the arm, idiot," she hissed softly, "The face."

"I can't do it," Mikan whimpered, already feeling like crying. "I'm not cut out for something like this!"

Sumire pursed her lips and sighed, irritated. She looked around once more to make sure that Koko was nowhere in sight before she nudged Mikan again, "Just forget about what you're supposed to do," she coached, "and admire him. It's easy isn't it?" _It is_, Mikan thought, since he was really pretty, and he wasn't awake to spoil the picture with his nasty mouth.

"Okay, go on..."

Mikan managed to get a finger close enough to Natsume's cheek, but his eyelashes fluttered as he stirred, and she jerked her hand back quickly. When she realized that he wasn't really waking up, she hurriedly shut her eyes and touched a finger to the smooth expanse of skin on his cheek, withdrawing her hand the moment she felt it come in contact with something.

When she opened her eyes, Sumire was stifling a laugh behind her fan, and Natsume was staring at her. Mikan almost sighed in relief that she had actually managed to get away -

Wait. Natsume was staring at her?

Mikan felt like dying on the spot. She shut her eyes again and prayed for a hole to swallow her up, but when she opened her eyes she was still there, and Natsume was giving her a dubious look, his eyebrow raised almost all the way to his hairline.

They both remained silent for a while, then Natsume said flatly, "You were touching me."

Mikan stared at him with a distraught look. "I'm sorry, I'm not a pervert, I just... It was supposed to be practice, and I, uh, I..."

Natsume was stiff all over, she noticed. She must have really repulsed him, she thought miserably. It was a complete failure.

She hung her head silently, and Sumire stepped in, lightheartedly laughing - "Hohoho!" - and dragging her away from the scene of crime.

When they were out of his sight and earshot, Sumire clapped Mikan on the back and nodded her head in a satisfied way, "You pass! You're not as bad as I thought you were. A bit different, perhaps, but since the effect is the same, what does it matter? You'll make it," she stated with utmost confidence.

Mikan stared morosely at a single portrait hanging on the wooden wall of the tavern. "You must be kidding me," she mumbled, "How can that possibly be a pass..."

"You don't say," Sumire raised an elegantly arched eyebrow as her lips curved into the first amused smile since Mikan had met her. "You don't see anything? Well, Natsume Hyuuga is different too, I guess..." She tapped her finger on her lips. "But it's a pass either way. Just be very very careful tonight," she warned, "I reckon there's going to be a heck lot of soldiers prancing around. The security should be on high alert. Remember to play your part well, I won't always be around to remind you to do it."

* * *

It was rather late when they all gathered outside the tavern and Koko hung a "AWAY FOR A TRIP" sign on the door and locked it securely with a huge padlock. A bunch of Koko's workers were securing their necessities to a wooden trolley, and at least a dozen courtesans were standing around attractively, chatting with each other and conveniently ignoring the going-ons around them.

Koko swung the key once around his finger when he finished locking up and came over to Natsume, "Come on, dude," he grinned, the earlier solemn atmosphere around them completely gone. "It's time for the fun."

"I don't see how this is going to be fun," Natsume said tiredly as he ran a hand over his face. "Where's the girl?"

"You mean you can't find her?" Koko's grin only grew wider as he motioned for one of his workers to come to him, "That means our plan is a success! She's right over there," he pointed at the group of courtesans as he turned to engage in a low conversation with his worker.

Natsume strained his eyes in the dim light, trying to find a familiar figure amongst the flamboyant group of courtesans. When he finally found her, he hardly believed what he was seeing. She was standing a little off to the side of the group, hiding behind Sumire while the other courtesans fawned over their new peer enthusiastically. Sumire was repeatedly trying to shove Mikan out from behind her, but the girl stayed put with the strength of glue.

She was completely different. She wasn't wearing the light make-up that Sumire had put on her in the afternoon, he noticed. Now, her make-up was just the same as the rest of the courtesans'. Thick, red, and ridiculous, he thought, she looked much better in the afternoon when she hadn't piled make-up onto herself like cream on a cake.

Sumire caught sight of him and smiled coyly, gesturing for him to go over. He didn't know why he complied, but he did. In the distance, Koko's voice shouting for the workers to gather could be heard, and the courtesans started to disperse as he came to a stop beside Sumire and visibly shaking Mikan. When Mikan saw him approaching, she ducked her head down and shrunk behind Sumire completely.

So she was still hung up on her molestation of him in the afternoon, he thought with an amused tilt of his lips. "We're leaving," he told Sumire, his eyes fixated on the smaller figure hiding behind her.

"Of course, Your Highness – ah, I mean, servant," her eyes fixed sharply upon his servant getup, not even bothering to hide her glee. "It's not everyday I get to see you dressed like this. Here you go, your ward." She tugged Mikan out from behind her like she would a pet, and pushed her towards Natsume.

Mikan stumbled and shrieked before finding her balance by flapping her arms around like a dying chicken. "How befitting of a courtesan," Natsume addressed her dryly, "I confess myself shocked."

Mikan blushed bright red and proceeded to spout a whole bunch of incoherent sentences that he didn't understand at all. "Forget it," he said after her fourth round of nonsensical spluttering, "Let's go." He held out his arm for her to take hold of, but she just stared at him, her whole face red despite the blusher only being applied on her cheeks. He couldn't help taking another jibe at her. "Why, afraid to touch me now after you assaulted me just now?"

Mikan squawked, "I didn't!" and grabbed his arm rather violently.

Sumire snickered. "You'd do better not to treat her like that when she's the courtesan and you're the servant, servant boy," she mocked happily.

Natsume eyed her blandly. "My special treatment is over? Maybe I should get Koko to come over here."

An unknown emotion flickered in Sumire's eyes, and her expression sobered. "Just leave, servant, before you hold up the whole team."

Natsume smirked, and then turned away, heading back to the main group with an unusually silent Mikan in tow. "What if we get found out?" she whispered to him worriedly, "I'm worried."

"You're the only one who needs to worry, isn't it?" He settled in among the courtesans and servants, and gave Koko the signal to leave. The group started moving forward steadily, a bustling, seemingly innocent group of entertainers leaving their base to seek a livelihood elsewhere. "I'm in no danger."

"Well, that's kind of you," Mikan mumbled under her breath as she tried to keep her poise while walking, despite the fact that she kept tripping over her long skirts.

They reached the exit of the town, and Natsume was honestly not surprised when he saw at least triple the usual number of soldiers guarding the exit. He felt Mikan's grip on his arm tighten, and when he looked down at her, her eyes were fixated nervously on the soldiers. "If you act normally, they won't find out," he said, "Stop cowering behind me like a nervous criminal."

She straightened then, and her attempt to look forward confidently while walking would have gotten him into fits of laughter, if he wasn't Natsume Hyuuga.

Koko's group stopped in front of the gates, and Natsume watched as he conversed cheerily with the head guard. The guard's eyes swept fleetingly over the group, pausing in admiration of more than a few courtesans' beauty. "Bastard," Natsume hissed under his breath, making sure to keep Mikan close to him.

"You have beautiful ladies, don't you, boy?" the guard said interestedly as he swept his eyes over the group once more. "Won't mind letting me have one, would you?"

Koko seemed perfectly normal as he laughed along with the obnoxious guard, but only Natsume noticed the beads of sweat gathered on his forehead due to his nerves.

"Of course, sir, but you wouldn't want a mere prostitute when you deserve so much better, isn't it?" he replied diplomatically as he gave the guard a friendly pat on the back.

"Oh, I don't know, son," the stocky guard guffawed as he touched his beard, "These are some fine specimens you have there. I think I'll have fun with any one."

His beady, assessing eyes swept slowly over everyone this time, and Natsume felt his blood go cold when the offending gaze landed on a quivering Mikan.

"How about this one, then?" he smiled, exposing his yellow, stained teeth.

* * *

**A/N: **This is the longest chapter I've written for Prophecy so far! I know I said that I wouldn't be able to update for four days at least, but I realized that I got my schedule wrong, haha. This is for all those who bothered to review, or even put this story in their favourites and on alert. It _is _pretty hard to get reviews on GAFFN nowadays, which is why I treasure each and every single one that I get. I really appreciate you guys' support a lot, and I hope you liked this chapter! :)


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me. :)

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Natsume vaguely considered the prospects of murdering Koko.

"What the fuck, Koko?" he hissed the moment he got to the other boy's side, his eyes blazing, jaw clenched, and hands stiffly balled into fists by his side. He honestly thought he was going to burst a vein as he watched the rowdy guards happily exit the scene, carting a petrified Mikan off with them. He might be classified as an ass, but even he wouldn't go as far as to give up a perfectly innocent girl to a group of potential rapists and not say a word. "You _fucking _let them take her," he hissed as his eyes narrowed.

Koko grinned as if he had not a care in the world, and it was the first time that Natsume had just a strong desire to wipe that smile off of his friend's face. "Of course I did, Natsume," Koko shrugged, "We wouldn't have been able to get away unscathed otherwise. You know that."

"So I did," Natsume grated out, not feeling appeased at all, "But that doesn't justify what you did. You know what they want to do to her."

Something flickered in Koko's eyes as he stared unblinkingly back into Natsume's furious gaze. "Come on, is that what you think I am? You have so little trust for me? Or maybe you just can't trust anyone now, after just that one time," Koko tutted.

"Don't bring that up now," Natsume warned darkly.

Sumire came up between the both of them, her green eyes narrowed into slits as she stared the both of them down. "What in the name of heavens are the both of you doing? They could have taken any one of us here, but Mikan? Really? They'll ruin her life!"

A flicker of irritation finally passed over Koko's face as he said, "Come on, Sumire, you too? Can't you trust me more than that?"

Sumire gave him a look that spoke a lot about her trust for him. "If you recall," she said bitterly, "I don't trust you at all. There's no reason for me to."

Natsume's finger twitched as he watched the two people impatiently. "Leave your lover's squabble for later. What are you planning, Koko?"

Koko broke his eye contact with Sumire, a muscle in jaw twitching from the force with which he was clenching his jaw. "Of course we're going to get her back, dude," he grinned, immediately reverting back to his cheerful self, "I thought of the possibility that we might run into some trouble, so I talked about it with Kei earlier." He waved a lean, young boy over, whom Natsume recognized as the worker that Koko had been talking to earlier. "In the meantime," Koko continued, "Mikan can use the knowledge she learnt from Sumire to fend off those people."

Natsume almost felt himself relax a little, but when he noticed Sumire's eyes widening in horror, he knew that it was not the time to feel relaxed yet. "What?"

"Well, that..." Sumire bit her tongue as she hesitated, "The girl's not really high level enough to deal with people like that. I don't think..."

Natsume stiffened all over again while Koko frowned for the first time in the night. "What do you mean?" Koko asked anxiously, "You taught her yourself! She can't not be high level enough to deal with the bosses!"

"You place too much confidence in my abilities," Sumire snapped, "I only had a day with her, and you know the sort of person she is. What was I supposed to do with her?"

Natsume closed his eyes, feeling a vein tick on his forehead. He breathed in deeply. "So, Koko?" he asked half threateningly, "I hope you have a backup plan." _If you value your life_.

Koko seemed to have gotten the message, for he swallowed nervously and turned to Kei. "Well," he grinned awkwardly, "I guess we have to use brute force, huh?"

* * *

Mikan couldn't manage to close her mouth all the way during the journey to the inn that she was in now. They gave her away. They honestly just gave her away to these sick looking, obese, evil looking -

"Would you like some ale, pretty lass?" The head guard who had set his sights on Mikan earlier leered at her, holding out a cup of ale to her. It was the same cup he had drank from earlier, Mikan noticed, struggling to hold back the bile that was threatening to rise up her throat.

She managed a weak smile at the man, looking desperately around her surroundings. The room she was in must be of the lowest grade, for except for a wooden bed sitting in a corner and the table that she was sitting beside now, there was nothing else in the small, sparsely furnished room.

There was nothing she could use to knock the man out and make a run for it, she knew. Mikan looked nervously back at the balding man grinning sleazily at her. "Well, little lady," the man drawled in a pathetic attempt to sound appealing, "We better get started with our business soon. My boys are still waiting outside for their turn with you when I'm done."

He extended a flabby arm to reach out to her, and Mikan felt herself freeze. There had to be something she could do, she thought desperately, feeling herself shudder with disgust when the man's oily hand descended on her skin and closed firmly over her arm. She could scarcely remember what Sumire had taught her today, and even if she did remember, she doubted it would be of much use to her. Exciting the man further wouldn't do her much good in this situation, would it?

Mikan felt frustrated tears gather in her eyes as the guard moved his seat to come closer to her. There was nothing she could do, she thought to herself. Her life was simply going end in this pathetic way. She was going to hate Natsume Hyuuga even after she died, she knew, for throwing her to the wolves and leaving her to fend for herself.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's head to bed," the man murmured as he pulled her to her feet forcefully.

"I'm not tired," Mikan protested weakly as she tried to fend off his wandering hands.

"All the better, isn't it?" the man grinned crookedly at her, "Since we're going to be pretty busy tonight..." He reached out to touch her face, and Mikan ducked reflexively.

The man scowled. "Alright, I've let you play coy for long enough now, lass," he hissed menacingly as his grip on her wrist tightened, making Mikan wince with pain. "What's with you pretending to be a high and mighty innocent when we all know what you do for a living?" He tugged her wrist so roughly that Mikan actually cried out in pain.

He proceeded to drag her towards the small bed, ignoring her cries of protest as he dumped her unceremoniously onto it. Mikan whimpered and tried to get to her feet, only to be pushed back down roughly. She blinked as a tear escaped her eye.

The man started to remove his belt, and Mikan silently thought to herself that she would die before she allowed him to touch her. She gathered up all the little bit of courage that she had before preparing to bite her tongue.

To think that her dream had been to travel the world, she thought bitterly, when she wasn't even able to survive for a single day out on her own.

The guard sneered at her before starting to unbutton his shirt. Mikan shut her eyes tight to avoid the sight. She heard the rustling of clothes, and footsteps as the man probably moved to step towards her. She quivered as she started to apply pressure on her tongue.

"Open your eyes."

Mikan shook her head fervently, refusing to adhere to the request of the lewd man, feeling oddly relieved when she tasted blood.

"Fuck, what are you doing?" The voice hissed as a hand reached out to grip her chin, forcing her lips to open. "Are you trying to kill yourself? Is this the best you can do?" The man scoffed. "Open your eyes, you stupid prude."

Mikan felt her eyes fly open. She hadn't noticed the familiar voice before, but now she certainly did. It was the first time she felt so relieved and happy at hearing that offending word.

Natsume's smooth face came into her view, and she cringed when she saw how murderous he looked. Mikan looked away, finding the guard lying on the wooden floor, half undressed and unconscious. Koko was standing near the now open door, grinning at her. "We have to leave quickly," he said to Natsume, who was still gripping her chin and staring darkly at the drop of blood that had escaped her mouth.

"You couldn't try running?" he asked uncharacteristically quietly, "Was killing yourself the only thing you could think of doing? This is how much your life means to you, isn't it?" He dropped his hand disgustedly, and Mikan felt her heart plummet, oddly. Natsume cast another dark glance at her before disappearing out the door. "We shouldn't have come for her, then," she heard him saying before she lost sight of him.

Mikan raised a hand to wipe off the blood on her chin, wincing. Koko came over and gave her a sympathetic smile as he slowly helped her to her feet. "Don't mind him," he said soothingly, "he just has something against people taking their lives too lightly. Come on, we can't stay here for too long."

Koko led her out of the nightmarish room, and she saw the rest of the guards lying unconscious outside the room, a few of Koko's workers standing to the side silently after having completed their job. Mikan followed him meekly, greatly relieved at being saved in the nick of time, but Natsume's disgusted expression wouldn't leave her mind.

She didn't know why, but she felt ashamed.

* * *

With the guards gone, the group was able to leave the town fairly easily, but everyone was in an uproar as they tried to move quickly. Mikan walked next to Sumire, who handed her a bottle of water to rinse her blood filled mouth.

"Goodness," Sumire frowned, "You could have killed yourself, what were you thinking?"

Mikan swirled the water around her mouth and spat it out on the grass next to her. "I was planning to," she confessed guiltily, "I couldn't think of any other way to escape." Her eyes inadvertantly travelled to fix themselves on Natsume's stiff back, watching him as he walked at the far front with Koko. She winced as she remembered what had occured earlier. "He's mad at me," she muttered.

Sumire followed her gaze and nodded knowingly, sighing. "Of course he is. He went ballistic on Koko after you got taken away. Then he arrives to find you trying to kill yourself. Of course he's angry, girl. Imagine if they had arrived a second later, then it would have been all for nothing, wouldn't it?" She studied Mikan's peeved expression for a while with her eyebrows raised. "You don't think he has the right to be angry, do you?"

Mikan nodded. "I think he's being inconsiderate," she confessed. "I was the one who got given up to the bad guys. What was I supposed to do? I wouldn't have known since I've never been in such a predicament before, right? The only suitable course of action at that time was to kill myself to protect my integrity. None of this would have happened if he hadn't let them take me in the first place!" she huffed indignantly as she started to feel more angry. What right did he have, honestly, to blow up at her like that after practically offering her to the wolves without even a fight?

"It might seem irrational to you," Sumire said slowly, "but he has a reason for acting this way. He might be cold and hard, but I've known him for a long time, and I can say that he's never unreasonable."

"That's right," Koko cut in, suddenly appearing beside the both of them. Sumire rolled her eyes and stepped away so that she was a safe distance away from him. Koko placed his hand over his heart, feigning a hurt expression. "Walk faster, girls," he said, "the guards could be discovered at any moment, and authorities will be coming after us." He sighed resignedly. "The quiet exit I hoped for is completely impossible now."

Mikan obediently sped up, while Sumire grudgingly did the same after scoffing rather rudely at Koko. "Sorry," Mikan whispered. "But what did you mean by 'That's right'?"

Koko smiled patiently at her. "Natsume always has a reason for acting a certain way, Mikan."

Mikan's expression steeled as she huffed. "There can't possibly be a good reason for his behaviour towards a person who almost _died_."

"I don't know if you'll think it's a good reason," Koko said carefully, "but he's just bitter, really."

"Bitter?"

Sumire laughed. "She won't understand, since the boy always seems bitter, doesn't he?"

"I can't say much about this, but someone he really trusted caused the death of his parents," Koko explained. Mikan gasped, holding her hand to her mouth, while Sumire looked unmoved, as if she had already heard this story a million times before. "Natsume had been really young when it happened," Koko explained, "and really trusting. He was crushed when it happened. He hated her for a while, used his hatred as strength to keep on moving. He wanted to take revenge on her, you see. But, when he was twelve, the palace received news that they had found the dead body of that person. She was dead, and there was no longer any way that Natsume could take revenge on her. She left a dying will, apologizing to him for causing his parents' deaths, admitting her mistakes. Natsume thinks she died to escape her guilt. Ever since then he's been extremely intolerant of people using death to run away from their problems. The result of a revenge that can never be fulfilled, I guess." Koko's eyes were filled with sorrow when he finished, as if he could understand completely the kind of pain that Natsume was going through.

"He's going to have to keep that hatred in his heart forever," Koko added solemnly. "The pain is always going to be there, and he hates her from taking away from him the chance of forgetting."

Mikan was silent for a long while as she lowered her head. Koko smiled softly as he patted her on her back and gestured for Sumire to take care of her. "Try to understand him, Mikan," he whispered in her ear, "God knows he needs someone to forgive him to even try to start forgiving himself." With that, he left to return to the front of the group.

"I didn't know," Mikan whispered softly after a long moment of silence.

Sumire snorted. "Of _course _you don't, don't be stupid. It's not like you knew him for as long as Koko and I have. How would you know? You know now, anyway," she added matter-of-factly.

"Yes, and I feel bad about it. Was I wrong?" Mikan asked miserably, her arms hanging at her sides limply as she trudged forward.

Sumire shot her a look of incredulity. "Of course _not_! The point of that little backstory wasn't to tell you that you were wrong for doing what you had to do," she said exasperatedly, "although of course I don't approve of your little suicide attempt. But rather, Koko was simply trying to make you understand Natsume's rationale for acting the way he did," she shot a sharp look at Mikan, "so don't even try to start piling the blame on yourself. You'll make him angry again if you do that."

Mikan suddenly felt very tired. "Why, does he hate people who like to blame themselves too?" She looked up to glare balefully at Natsume's back. "I think he hates himself enough too."

Sumire chuckled a little. "That, he does," she agreed, "He'll forget that he's upset with you soon enough if you don't remind him of it, though. You'll have to learn to accomodate him," she added sagely. "You're going all the way to Touranne with him, anyway. That's the least you can do."

Mikan nodded absent-mindedly, lost in her thoughts. She never once thought that Natsume had a past like that. She had gone with her first impression of him, a spoiled prince who only thought of himself, but now her perceptions of him were being severely contradicted. She had been too quick to judge, she admitted to herself.

Mikan looked up again and looked at Natsume thoughtfully. It seemed that she had to reassess him now. She sighed huffily. He really was quite difficult to understand.

Natsume turned around to check on the rest of the group, and their eyes met. Mikan pursed her lips. Natsume's jaw tightened again before he broke their eye contact and turned away.

Sumire took in this exchange amusedly, while Mikan muttered to herself under her breath angrily. Well, no matter the circumstance, it seemed as if he was forever going to be a rude, pompous prince, she thought to herself.

* * *

It wouldn't be good to travel all through the night due to the declining energy of the people, so Koko suggested that they set up camp for the night. Mikan watched in wonder as the workers bustled around at practically the speed of light, quickly unpacking and setting up several large tents, and lighting a fire with the firewood that they had brought along. The courtesans simply stood around amidst all the mess, as usual. Sumire handed Mikan a pillow and blanket. She assessed Mikan for a minute, then looked towards Natsume, who was skulking in a corner after having finished helping to set up the tents. Then, she smirked a little as she handed an extra pillow to Mikan.

It seemed like she would have to do some work to get the two kids to make up, she thought.

"Go," she ordered after shoving another pillow into Mikan's already filled arms, earning a whine from the smaller girl. "Go share with Natsume."

"What?" Mikan shouted, and practically the whole group turned their heads to stare, including Koko. Natsume, however, stubbornly kept his head averted. "I haven't gotten married yet," Mikan whispered agitatedly, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. "And he's mad at me."

Sumire nodded at that. "Exactly. Men are all the same. They say they're upset, they _act _like they're upset, but you sleep with them and the next morning they're fine." She turned to look at Mikan as if she was shocked that Mikan couldn't manage to comprehend that universally known fact. "Didn't you know that?"

"I can't sleep with him!" Mikan shouted again, and a few more heads turned interestedly. She flushed again and lowered her voice. "Have you lost your mind, Sumire? He's.. he's _male_. I'm not really a courtesan, remember?"

"I know that," Sumire said flatly. "But are you really going to complain about where you sleep? We only have a few tents here. You either sleep with the courtesans, the workers or Natsume. He's the only prince here who gets a tent to himself."

"I'll sleep with the courtesans. I can do that, we're all women," Mikan cried as she tugged on Sumire's sleeve imploringly.

Sumire shook her hand off and raised an eyebrow at her. "Well I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said slowly, carefully injecting a bit of hesitation into her tone.

"Why?"

Sumire shrugged and wrung her hands. "We're _courtesans_, girl. We sleep with men for money. It's our job. Which also means," she smiled regally, "that during the night, men are bound to be coming in and out of our tent, picking girls for their own pleasure. I know you're not a courtesan," she couldn't help grinning at Mikan's expression of horror as the meaning dawned upon her, "but _they _don't know."

"Isn't there an extra tent?" Mikan asked weakly, looking towards the group of rowdy workers, and then to the sulky Natsume sitting in a corner.

"No, besides, it would look weird if a mere courtesan had her own tent. No one will suspect anything if we say you were sent to service the prince," Sumire cocked an eyebrow at Mikan as she laughed at the girl's reactions inwardly.

"You want them to think that I'm going to... to... with _him_?" Mikan hissed as she pointed a thumb at Natsume, red all the way to her collarbone.

Sumire couldn't help a little giggle as she placed her hands on Mikan's shoulders and gave her a little push towards Natsume. "Mikan, Mikan," she chanted softly, "How nice of you to remember your manners while pointing. However," she added, "Having them think that is perfectly fine, isn't it? It's not like you're really going to do anything."

Mikan looked crushed as she stared at Sumire. "He'll kick me out," she insisted forlornly, "He'll make me sleep outside and let the wolves eat me."

"Nonsense," Sumire laughed as she steered a very reluctant Mikan towards Natsume. "He's a prince, remember? He'll be a perfect gentleman."

Natsume raised his eyes as they approached and shot them both a dark look, his eyebrows slowly raising in confusion.

"I doubt so," Mikan moaned as she closed her eyes.

* * *

**A/N**: I really do have a lot of time on my hands for these few days. Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter! Your comments really encouraged me. So now the trip has officially started. On a pretty bad foot, perhaps, but haha. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too! It's late, so I'll post this first. If there're any mistakes, please inform me. I'll edit it tomorrow. :)

To **CV**, I don't get pissed off when people ask me to update, if that's what you're getting at. :) I completely understand that feeling, haha. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!

**/edit 10/11/11**

****all(?) grammar and typos corrected.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Natsume had learnt how to accurately read people's emotions since young, because hardly anyone had ever been true to him. Being unable to trust fully, the other option he had was to constantly guess. Which was why, the moment he spotted the unconcealed glee and mirth on Sumire's face as she ushered a shaking Mikan towards him, he knew he would have to kill her later.

It couldn't be something good.

Natsume was honestly not in a good enough mood to be willing to tolerate any nonsense from any of the two girls. His head was still throbbing, and flashes of Mikan bleeding earlier were still appearing in his mind, regardless of how much he wanted to forget.

That little drop of blood was enough to make him vulnerable. It was enough to remind him of more bloodshed, more violence – the horror that had happened so many nights ago.

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously as he got to his feet, desperately needing to feel more in control.

Sumire seemed to have gauged his rotten mood, for she suddenly looked a bit regretful at what she was about to do. "Mikan is sleeping with you tonight," she stated blandly, apparently going to go ahead with what she had planned earlier.

Natsume froze, his jaw tight. "No."

"Are you going to make her sleep with a group of whores?" Sumire demanded, "Or will you have her sleep with a bunch of rowdy perverts who will love nothing more than to have a fresh, young -"

"Shut up," Natsume hissed, rubbing his temples tiredly as he shut his eyes.

When he opened them again Sumire was still wearing that determined expression on her face, and Mikan was looking like she wanted to shrink into the ground. "Sumire," she whispered, tugging at Sumire's sleeve, "Let's just go. Please."

Sumire's finely sculpted lips tugged to the side as she shook off the younger girl and stepped closer to him. "Do this for yourself," she murmured softly to the side of his ear, "You've been brooding for long enough, and despite how you don't know it yet, I know. She'll be good for you."

Natsume frowned at her words. Was the woman seriously hinting to him what she thought she was? "I've barely known her for a day," he said dryly, "and now you want me to marry her?"

Mikan flushed bright red when she heard his words. Natsume rolled his eyes. "Whoever marries her in the future will be a poor sod," he added as an afterthought.

"Hey!" Mikan cried indignantly, "I don't want to sleep with you any more than you want to sleep with me!"

He nodded understandingly. "That's it, then. Conversation finished."

Natsume sighed to himself and pushed apart the opening flap to his tent, ducking his head to go inside. Mikan was still huffing outside, while Sumire looked more than disapproving of him. He didn't really care, since he was over his head just trying to get through this night.

It was going to be a long night, he knew.

* * *

"_Please," he pleaded as he fell to his knees desperately, "Daddy and Mummy – Daddy and Mummy aren't bad people, Freya. Please, save them. Just them. I can do anything, I promise!" He was sobbing so badly, even though he had been taught that it was embarrassing for boys to cry. _

_How could he not, though, in this situation? He was five. He was loved. And now he found himself helpless as all around him, people fell. _

_He knew they weren't ever going to get up again._

_Freya's platinum blonde hair seemed to shine in the moonlight as she turned to face him, her gaze cold and hard, so unlike the loving Freya that he knew. The Freya whom he loved as he would a sister._

"_They ruined me, Natsume," her lips were curled into an ugly sneer as she stood towering over his small frame. "They ruined my life. I'm not going to help them. They deserved this."_

_He grabbed the ends of her long dress into his trembling hands, "No, Freya, Daddy and Mummy won't do anything like that. You know that. You're friends, friends don't do things like that to each other." He heard a scream of agony echo in the distance and closed his eyes, huge sobs wracking his tiny body. "Please, Freya..."_

_She looked morose and regretful for one, small fleeting moment as she regarded him coolly. Then, she was that beautiful stranger once again._

"_I can't, Natsume. They're already dead."_

* * *

Natsume woke up breathing heavily, with huge droplets of sweat beading on his forehead. The horror was so vivid that he had honestly felt like it was happening all over again. He struggle to breathe properly, clutching the thin blanket he had.

He had barely regained his composure before he realized that he was not alone.

Mikan was close, too close for him not to have noticed her if he was in his usual alert state. But he wasn't, so he only saw her there when he turned his head. She was sitting on the floor, her brown eyes wide and worried as she stared him down.

"You woke up," she sighed relievedly, patting her chest.

Natsume stared at her, at a loss for words for the first time in his life.

Mikan realized that it probably looked very weird for her to be in his tent in the middle of the night, and started getting a little flustered, turning a little pink again. "I heard you," she explained hastily, "I couldn't sleep and I came out for a walk and I – I heard you."

"You were begging someone," she added quietly, almost in wonder.

Natsume's pride immediately got into action. "I wasn't. I would never," he insisted, even though he knew that what she had heard.

His desperate pleads for the lives of his parents, that was what she had heard.

She let it go surprisingly easily and sat back, supporting herself with her palms. "Let's go with that theory," she smiled jovially, and he noticed that she had washed off all the makeup that was on her face before. The Mikan now was only wearing a simple nightdress, the childish kind that young girls wore, definitely not what girls her age wore nowadays. Tiny, yellow chicks were dancing on a small grass field on the hem of her dress.

She looked so normal, he felt oddly soothed.

Perhaps it was because someone who looked like that couldn't possibly bear any ill will or threat to anyone, he thought. She was a more likely target instead of a perpetrator. "Where did you end up sleeping?" he croaked hoarsely, unable to stop his curiosity.

"Oh." Mikan looked slightly taken aback by his question, but answered it anyway, "The courtesan's tent was completely full, so I slept with Koko and the others."

"What?" _She slept with men_ was the first thing that entered Natsume's mind, and he felt surprisingly uncomfortable with that little tidbit of information.

Mikan waved her hands in his face. "No, no, not like that," she said quickly. "Koko set out a part of the tent for me. He hung a piece of cloth on the roof and whoosh! One tent became two tents!" She held out two of her index fingers happily as she scooted closer to him, propping herself up beside him.

Natsume's mind was too fogged up to register the close proximity between them, so he just let it pass. They both just sat there for a while, watching the flap of the tent move along with the chilly breeze that blew at night.

Natsume turned his head to scrutinize Mikan. She seemed perfectly content playing with a stick, drawing patterns he didn't understand on the dirt.

"Why aren't you asking?" he asked quietly. He knew it sounded like an encouragement for her to prod into his problems earlier, but it really wasn't. He was simply baffled. It was the first time someone had noticed something hinting to his dark past but didn't ask anything at all.

She couldn't not be curious. They were always curious, seeming intent on making him seem like a freakshow. He couldn't show even a bit of weakness, for then those people would insist that there was something wrong with him. They wanted him to tell them about what happened. They believed they could help him. They were wrong.

Nothing could help him but revenge, and it was a lost cause now.

Mikan looked up from her little activity while he was deep in his thoughts. "Because you don't want to talk about it," she replied simply, smiling softly.

Natsume blinked. "It's not my business, and I won't pretend that I'm not curious, but I do know when to keep my mouth shut, you know," Mikan grinned at him and shoved her stick into his hands. "Do you want to try?"

"How can you be so happy all the time?" he asked with a hint of incredulity in his voice. "Your mother, she's sick isn't she? You won't be able to save her with the Flower of Yulia, right? You should be worrying like fuck right now."

She frowned at him. "You should stop being so crude all the time," she chided, "and I _am _worried. It's just that, there's no use dwelling on it and letting it affect me, right? Since I'm already out here, on the way to get her a cure, the moping part of my life is over. Now is the time I should be strong. How will I save my mother if I'm crying all the time?" She shot him a sagely look and patted his knee lightly.

Natsume shoved her hand off with a scowl, but Mikan merely laughed it off. "What do you mean by it's over? It's hardly over, it just started," he scoffed.

Mikan thought about his words for a while. "Humans will always be moving forward, Natsume. You can't try to control everything. Once something is over, we move on. We eventually forget, and then we make new memories to cover the old ones. Isn't that true for everyone?"

_Like hell it is_, Natsume thought, but he kept his mouth shut and glared darkly at his blanket instead. "You're saying that you're going to just forget your mother when she dies," he accused after a while.

This time, Mikan genuinely looked offended. "No, I'm not. You remember people, Natsume, because they're always going to be in your heart. Here," she poked his chest and continued, "You don't just forget about people like that. But, when they're gone, you forget all the bad stuff and keep the good memories with you. That's how it should be. That's what the people who loved you would have wanted for you," she murmured softly.

Natsume narrowed his eyes suspiciously. She spoke as if she knew what had happened to him. "Koko told you something," he said.

Mikan shrugged, the smile back on her face. "You feel better now, don't you?" she asked, completely changing the topic. Natsume scoffed at her obvious attempt to direct him away from the truth. Then he realized that she was right. He had been so busy scoffing at her antics and sneering at her that he had all but forgotten the nightmare that had caused him to wake up. As he looked at her, he felt the first hints of doubt creep into his mind. Was what he was doing really right?

_She'll be good for you_.

Natsume's lip curled in disgust. What did that woman know, anyway?

* * *

The first rays of sunlight were just streaming into the tent through a small crevice between the flaps when Natsume jerked awake. He had fallen asleep again sometime in the night, still sitting up against the walls of the tent. The only thing different was that someone had pulled the woolen quilt over him. He turned when he felt the heavy weight on his shoulder, and found Mikan asleep under the quilt as well, her head nodding forward every few seconds as she leaned on his shoulder.

He woke her by shoving the back of her head forward, and Mikan fell forward, emitting a small shriek as she tried to find her balance.

Once she had gotten to her feet, she glared down at him unhappily. "That was uncalled for."

Natsume looked at her wryly as he thought of the way Sumire tried to get the girl to sleep with him yesterday. She would have a field day with this one, he thought to himself.

The flap to the tent flew open with force, and Natsume squinted from the intensity of the sunlight as a silhouette appeared at the entrance. "She's gone, Natsume!" Koko cried from the entrance, his eyes wild with worry. I pulled down the makeshift curtain when she didn't seem to be waking up, and she wasn't there! I didn't mean to lose her, I swear dude, I – ouch!"

Koko rubbed his head, scowling as Sumire appeared behind him, already freshened up and having put her makeup on. "She's right there, you doofus," she exhaled sharply. "Apparently she found somewhere better to sleep for the night," she added as she nodded approvingly at a very confused Mikan.

Natsume sighed and ran his hand through his hair. There was no way to talk himself out of this, he knew. If Sumire Shouda believed something was the truth, then it had to be. If he tried to argue he would probably just get a bigger headache. He left the three people in his tent and left quickly, wanting to escape the stifling atmosphere inside there.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Mikan shouted after him as he disappeared outside.

"Oh, he just has to clear his head," Sumire said knowingly, a pleased smile set on her lips.

* * *

They packed up and were soon on their way, arriving at the next county, Haven, at mid-afternoon. "Be careful, Mikan," Koko warned as they entered the town. "The people here are mostly well versed in witchcraft. Take whatever they say with a grain of salt, okay?"

Mikan nodded obediently. "Thanks, Koko."

The place looked friendly enough, Mikan thought to herself. Except for a few creepy looking houses that looked like they hadn't been cleaned for ages, the town looked just like any other town would, bustling and alive.

She kept to herself dutifully, though. Koko had been nothing but kind to her for the time that she had known him, and she wasn't about to defy his goodwill. A few of the townspeople sent her friendly smiles, but other than returning a small smile, she did not converse or attempt to interact with any of them.

They soon arrived at a large, grand inn, and everyone emptied into it, the workers unloading their stuff and carrying them in carefully. Natsume was leaning against the cart, his eyes following the workers' movements. When his gaze landed on her, she grinned widely at him. She liked to think that they had proceeded to having a grudging friendship after the exchange that they had had last night, but evidently Natsume thought otherwise, for he raised an eyebrow, and then sneered at her sourly.

_Sourpuss_, Mikan thought bitterly as she stomped up the steps, bumping into someone on the way.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she bowed and apologized hurriedly, hastily helping the person gain her balance when she realized that it was a old, fragile looking lady who looked as if she was pushing sixty.

There was some hint of beauty in her wrinkled face, though, and her hair held a kind of lustre that seemed almost magical. Mikan stared in awe, certain that this old lady had been a beauty in her prime.

The old lady smiled kindly at her. "Thank you, little one," she croaked with a broken voice.

"No, it's my fault," Mikan hastily said, waving off the lady's thanks. Dropping her defence for a moment at the old lady's kind face and heartwarming smile. "I'm Mikan, miss. May I know who you are?"

The old lady nodded obligingly, smiling and revealing a almost toothless grin.

"I'm the widow of the late mayor, dear. You can call me Mrs Rafey."

* * *

**A/N: **I wonder if this chapter is boring, haha. It was hard to write, certainly, I had a lot of trouble trying to capture the emotions in this chapter, but it's a necessary transition chapter that I have been planning for a while, haha. Hope you guys enjoyed it anyway! Feel free to offer any suggestions if you don't!

I feel like I have failed those who were hoping for some fluff, haha. It's just that it wouldn't seem very realistic if they suddenly became chummy after only having met for a day, so... fluff will come later. :) This is a pretty short chapter, hope you guys don't mind too much, because I had to end it here, or the chapter would go on and on and on...

To that anonymous reviewer, yes, you can die if you bite your tongue. You'll die of bleeding, and this is the extent of how much I know about it, haha.


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Mikan immediately felt pity for the old lady who was currently smiling kindly at her. How awful it would be, to lose your loved one in old age and have to walk on alone? "I'm really sorry about your husband," Mikan smiled lightly as she said.

The old lady waved a hand and let out a raucous bout of laughter. "Don't be, little one. All of us have to go someday." She regarded Mikan with her bright, sapphire blue eyes sharply for a second, and then continued, "Meeting you has been an utmost pleasure, darling, but I'm afraid that I have some urgent business to attend to at the town hall. I would love to have you over for tea some other time, though. If you're ever interested to take up my offer, just knock in at Madam Lira's."

Mikan nodded politely, taken aback by the lady's generous hospitality. The people here weren't half as bad and suspicious as Koko had thought they were, she thought to herself, feeling relieved. She was now more inclined to believe that the people who had acknowledged her just now had simply done so out of goodwill, and not bad intentions. She actually felt bad for not returning the gesture now.

Mrs Rafey stepped down the small steps gingerly, limping just a little as she concentrated her weight on her cane. She kept her gaze on the steps, afraid of falling, but then she raised her head and caught sight of Natsume.

Mrs Rafey's mouth fell open, and she stopped in her tracks.

"That is a very fine specimen you have there," she murmured dreamily to Mikan, who was standing next to her, dumbfounded by her words. "Does he belong to you?"

"Uh, no," Mikan started. "Actually, we're -"

"Then you don't mind if I take him back with me, do you?" Mrs Rafey's expression was imploring, while Mikan fought desperately to keep the horrified expression off her face. It couldn't be, Mrs Rafey was a...

"Oh no, dear, it's not what it looks like," the old lady smiled amusedly as she patted Mikan's cheek, "I just think he would be a pretty good choice for my granddaughter, that's all."

Mikan hadn't had enough time to ponder about just why Mrs Rafey's words only made her feel worse when Natsume stalked over regally and cast a suspicious glance at Mrs Rafey. The old lady took the scrutiny graciously and grinned her toothless grin again.

Natsume narrowed his eyes and tugged Mikan away, ignoring her protests as he pulled her at least three meters away from the now confused Mrs Rafey. "I remember Koko told you not to associate with the people in this town," he hissed into her ear, his grip tight on her arm.

Mikan winced a little from the force of his grip and the displeasure in his tone. "She's nice," she protested indignantly, "Besides, it's not like everyone in this town is evil. There're bound to be some nice people -"

"Maybe you'll actually get to live till thirty if you aren't so stupidly trusting," Natsume snarled exasperatedly. He turned to take another look at Mrs Rafey, who was still smiling amiably at the both of them, and scoffed. "If that isn't suspicious," he pointed a finger rudely at the lady, "then I don't know what is."

"Well that's called being _kind_," Mikan snorted, feeling a bout of anger rise up in her. He was always blaming her! When she helped him, he blamed her for being too trusting. When she tried to preserve her integrity by commiting suicide, he hated her for taking her life too lightly. When she tried to give him space by keeping to herself, he thought she was weird for not asking! It was honestly too much, considering that Mikan never really thought that there was anything wrong with her actions.

If there was something wrong here, it was definitely Natsume's misplaced sense of right and wrong.

"But I wouldn't blame you for not noticing," she added antagonistically, "Since you've never been kind once in your whole life, of course you wouldn't know it when you see it." Mikan huffed and stomped away from him, shaking her arm out of his iron grip.

Natsume rolled his eyes as he watched the girl leave. Then, he turned sharply towards Mrs Rafey. The lady was just leaving when Natsume went up to her and placed himself in front of her.

Mrs Rafey smiled softly at him. "Hello, boy."

"Stay away from her," Natsume warned darkly, his jaw clenched tight. "You can do whatever you want to the people in this town, but touch her – just one _hair_, and you'll regret that you ever accosted her this way."

He honestly had no idea why he had taken upon himself the responsibility of keeping Mikan safe, but somehow, the thought of her hurt and bleeding somewhere – as she had the night she had been taken away – managed to twist his heart into knots. Perhaps it had been too long since he had had something to protect.

Perhaps, he simply needed to feel needed again. To have a purpose.

Mrs Rafey looked slightly surprised for a second, before she smiled knowingly. "Important, is she? You'll keep an eye on her then." Her expression turned enigmatic and ominous as she turned to leave the inn. "I may be able to promise you her safety with me, but this is Haven, boy. You never know what will happen."

She moved away from a tense, stiff Natsume, disappearing into a puff of smoke barely three feet away from him.

* * *

Koko stopped Sumire in her tracks just as she was going up the stairs to find Mikan, whom she heard was sulking in her room again because of something Natsume Hyuuga did. _Boys_. They seemed to think that they were the center of the universe. "What do you want?" she snapped none too kindly, the bitter feelings from last night manifesting in her behaviour.

She wasn't looking at him, opting to stare blankly at the landing of the wooden stairs instead.

"We need to talk, Sumire, please." Koko pleaded, looking more than distressed and extremely tired, a shiny sheen of sweat covering his face from his exertions.

"I don't have anything to talk to you about, Koko. We share a business alliance. We agreed on that a long time ago." Sumire retorted, still stubbornly avoiding his eyes.

They were creating quite a spectacle, she noticed uncomfortably. The workers who were relaxing in the lobby were already starting to stare interestedly at them. Sumire coughed into her fan. "Well, if you'll excuse me."

She made her way around him and started to go up the stairs when his words made her freeze.

"You know how I feel, Sumire. You've always known. If I had had any choice, I would never have let you become like this. You _know _that," His voice was pleading, desperate. "You know I lo-"

"Shut up," Sumire hissed coldly, taking more purposeful steps upwards. "Whatever we once had is over, Yome. Don't force me to be more distant than this, if you're hoping to continue our alliance."

Koko leaned back against the barrister weakly as she rounded the corner and disappeared. Sumire hadn't looked at his eyes even once, for she knew -

She knew the moment she looked into those eyes, she would waver. And as much as she wanted to loosen up and just let everything go, she knew she wasn't ready to risk it. She _wouldn't _risk her heart again.

The pain that she had felt so long ago, she wasn't sure she could survive feeling it again.

* * *

The door to Mikan's room was flung open suddenly, and Mikan shot up from her embarrassing, unladylike position on the bed, only to find Sumire – a very red-eyed Sumire – standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Mikan was up in a flash and by the older girl's side moments later, leading her gently to her bed and sitting her down. "Koko?" she asked knowingly.

Sumire blinked, taken aback. "What do you know?"

Mikan smiled sympathetically and brought her a cup of water, which Sumire gulped down gratefully. "It's pretty obvious. I thought you were interested in Natsume at first, but after that I realized that you only do it when Koko is around. The both of you always look very strained around each other... there's some history between you and him, right?" She caught Sumire's distressed look and hastily added, "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, I get it."

There was a long pause of silence before Sumire sighed resignedly, "Well, there really isn't anything worth hiding. It's just a past relationship, nothing more." She swirled the leftover water in her cup as she looked morosely into it, staring at her reflection. She was the beautiful courtesan, so skilled in the arts of seduction, so desired by the men... but all she wanted to be was Sumire Shouda, the girl who had loved – and been loved by – Kokoro Yome.

Sumire laughed bitterly at herself. How was it possible now? "I'm already tainted," she muttered miserably to Mikan, "We can't possibly have a good end."

Mikan struggled to find words to say. She always knew that Sumire couldn't be as strong as she looked like she was, but to see such a vulnerable sight of her was unnerving, to say the least. Perhaps it would be best to have her think it out on her own, Mikan thought, she was an outsider anyway, and nothing she could say could possibly sway Sumire's opinion of the matter. She pulled the courtesan up, shooting her an encouraging smile. "Let's go out," she suggested. "We can go exploring the town! Forget about Koko for a while, and just be yourself."

Sumire seemed to be seriously contemplating her suggestion, but after a while she shook her head, setting the cup down on the dresser next to Mikan's bed. "Didn't he say that this town isn't safe?"

"Well screw what he says," Mikan said, then winced at her own crude language.

Sumire finally smiled, amused. "Affected by Natsume already?"

Mikan stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her nose. "Come on, let's go." She tugged Sumire towards the door, and this time the other girl did not refuse, and just went along with her.

Mikan was right, Sumire thought to herself, screw Koko and whatever he says. She'd been trapped in his shadow for so long, the least she could do was set herself free for a little while.

* * *

No one noticed when the two girls left the inn stealthily, for they were all too busy unloading the things from the cart and transporting them into the rooms. Mikan and Sumire were soon out on the streets, alone.

Mikan couldn't help feeling a bubble of excitement as she examined her surroundings. The town really was beautiful, with all the rough stone buildings standing proudly and neatly in straight lines. The whole town seemed to be made of stone, which was surprisingly artistic, instead of cheap. Every single stone looked as if it had been carved meticulously, and placed carefully in a specific location.

Mikan pulled Sumire along with her as she looked around, awed. So this was one part of the world that she had been missing. It was beautiful, so beautiful that she wished she could have seen it earlier, and not in these circumstances.

She looked around curiously at all the shops and houses. They were all things that could be found in normal towns, taverns, inns, and places like clothing shops. The one place that really caught Mikan's eye, however, was a small, battered shophouse sitting snugly in the corner amidst all the other shops. She pulled Sumire towards it. "Look at that!" Mikan exclaimed as she pointed excitedly at the small building.

Sumire scoffed skeptically. "Fortune telling, it says. Well that's a load of bullshit if I've ever seen one." She shot a critical glance at Mikan, who was biting her lips in interest. "Goodness, you can't possibly be interested in that!"

Mikan grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I've never actually experienced it, so..."

Sumire held Mikan's gaze for a long while, her expression cold and steely while Mikan put on her best puppy-dog face, her eyes pleading.

Sumire heaved a deep sigh, tearing her eyes away from Mikan's face and moving forward. "You've certainly brought on the big guns, haven't you," she muttered irritably under her breath. "Come on now, just once."

Mikan squealed in glee and scampered after her, the both of them heading steadily towards the building.

The tinkling sound of a bell resounded through the dark room when the two girls entered the fortune telling shop, and the first thing that entered Mikan's field of vision was a large crystal ball sitting on a plain, wooden table. The second, was the woman peering at them from underneath her lashes.

The shop contained nothing other than the table which the woman was sitting at, the crystal ball, and two other stools that sat opposite the woman. She looked like any other common citizen, with auburn hair and a lean physique, a bandana tied neatly around her head. What unnerved Mikan, however, were her eyes.

They were incredibly sharp, like that of an eagle viewing its prey, and were also an impossible shade of orange.

Mikan unknowingly stepped back behind Sumire, and Sumire snorted a little as she pulled Mikan towards the two chairs, seating her. "You were the one who wanted to come, she reminded Mikan scornfully as she took her own seat."

There were no welcomes, no questions asked. The woman merely opened her mouth and said, "I know you."

Mikan felt herself sit up straight. Her eyes were wide, and Sumire's disbelieving, as she regarded the fortune teller. "You know _me_?" she repeated slowly.

The woman smiled coolly, rubbing a hand lightly over her crystal ball. "I know many things, and many people. You, however, are incredibly special."

Sumire actually laughed out loud, and her boisterous laughter echoed through the small room. "Ha! How many people have you said that to again?"

The woman cast a disapproving look at her. Mikan looked nervously from Sumire to the woman before prodding, "Please explain."

The woman pursed her lips before crossing her arms daintily on the table. Her eyes were intense as they once again fell on Mikan. "You have a birthmark," she drawled slowly, "in the shape of a star on your right shoulder."

Sumire turned to Mikan, raising an eyebrow, while Mikan looked completely awestruck. "Wow," she breathed, "How did you know that?"

"You really have one?" Sumire asked.

Mikan rolled up the sleeves of her dress, revealing a small, black, star-shaped birthmark on her right shoulder. Sumire frowned and gasped.

The woman was completely unaffected by the reactions of the two women in front of her. She scrutinized Mikan's birthmark closely, her lips opening into a small 'o'. "I was right," she whispered softly, "You are the North Star."

"The... North Star? What's that?" Mikan prodded further as her heart started to thump in both trepidation and anticipation. She desperately hoped that it wasn't something bad.

"The Chosen One," the woman replied simply, rubbing her crystal ball some more. "The one destined to fulfil the prophecy." Her expression darkened, her lips pressing into a thin line.

Mikan gripped Sumire's hand nervously, and the courtesan wrapped her hands over Mikan's in a reassuring grip. The atmosphere in the shop seem to have changed completely, for now Mikan couldn't ignore the tightening feeling in her chest, the way the air seemed to be lacking...

The fortune teller's eyes flashed dangerously as she reached for Mikan, her long, untrimmed nails looking menacing. Mikan squeaked as the woman's hands came to rest on her shoulder, her body halfway across the table.

Sumire made a sound of protest, but the woman shushed her. "You're with Natsume Hyuuga," she continued darkly.

Mikan could only manage a feeble nod, her lips drying alarmingly fast.

The woman's grip on Mikan's shoulders tightened almost painfully as she met Mikan's gaze, her orange eyes darkened to vermillion, dark and unpromising.

"Leave him. Before you fulfil the prophecy. Leave him -"

_If you want to live on_.

The words were unspoken, but everyone in the room heard them. Mikan shuddered, and Sumire sat with her mouth open in shock as the fortune teller dislodged her hands from Mikan's shoulder and sat back down primly as if nothing had happened.

"It is the only way."

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter up! I'll get round to review replies tomorrow, but I'm heading to bed now! Hope you guys enjoyed this one!


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice is not mine.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

The orange-eyed lady sat alone in her shop for a long while after Mikan and Sumire had left, barely managing to balance on their shaky legs. Her face was sober, as she sat unmoving. Then, she rose, and in a fluid motion, ripped off her bandana and auburn wig. Her eyes flashed as she muttered a spell under her breath, her face morphing into gruesome, mutated shapes – eventually revealing her true face.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing your transformations, Yura," A deep voice resonated through the room as a dark figure stepped out from the shadows.

Yura smiled briefly, before her expression reverted back to the solemn, stoic one that she had been wearing before. "Things are going out of control, Rei," she murmured softly, turning around to face him.

Rei Serio clenched his jaw, his midnight black eyes filled with hatred so strong, that even Yura had to fight the urge to flinch away from him. "Has she fallen for him yet?" he asked quietly as he came around to sit in the seat that Yura had vacated.

"No, but it's a matter of time. It's almost impossible, for us to attempt to stop the wheels of fate -"

"_Fate_?" Rei spat out disgustedly, his shoulders tight and tense. "That's a load of bullshit, Yura, and you know it. Their fate was never supposed to be like this. Nothing went the way it was supposed to."

Sympathy flickered in Yura's eyes as her demeanour softened. "I know how you feel. But what can we do, Rei? Simply because I know how things will develop doesn't mean that I have the power to stop it. No matter how hard we struggle, we are merely bystanders. We don't have a hand in how their lives go from here."

"You warned her, though." Rei stood up stiffly, heading towards the door. "And if she's smart, she'll take your advice and leave Natsume Hyuuga before they have the chance to fulfil the prophecy."

Yura swallowed as she met his eyes. "And if she doesn't?"

Rei's hand twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, allowing just a small stream of light to enter the room.

"Then the only way to stop the prophecy from coming true will be to kill her, won't it?"

* * *

Mikan couldn't find the mouth with which to speak for a long while after she left the fortune teller. She was scared, creeped out, and yet she didn't want to believe anything that the woman had told her. It was simply a coincidence that she knew of her birthmark, she thought to herself.

Sumire was abnormally quiet, and when she finally decided to speak, her voice was trembling. Her whole body was shaking, Mikan knew. "That woman... she said you'd lose your life," Sumire whispered almost inaudibly, as she turned to look imploringly at Mikan. "If that's so, you have to leave," Her voice was more forceful now. "Forget the Flower of Yulia. Forget that you ever met us. As long as you live -"

"You were the one who told me not to believe in those kind of things, Sumire," Mikan pointed out shakily, her voice holding determination.

Sumire exhaled incredulously. "Are you kidding me? Many of these people are quacks, of course, but Mikan! How can you doubt what she says when she knows practically all the little details about you?"

Her eyes were filled with tears, from shock or anger, Mikan did not know. "Mikan," Sumire said almost pleadingly as she grabbed the younger girl's hand and clasped it in her own. "You shouldn't have to risk yourself. Just go home. Don't risk hurting yourself for this. I don't want you to ever turn out like me,with your hopes and dreams dashed and no hope for a better future. I'll make you leave," she added fiercely, "I'll tell Natsume and Koko. There's no way they'll let you stay after this."

"I can't just go home!" Mikan cried distressedly as she pried her hand from Sumire's grasp gently. "What about my mother, then? I can't... I have to go through with this. We don't have to believe what she says, Sumire. I can take control of my own fate."

Sumire opened and closed her mouth a few times, her expression pained as she looked at Mikan. "I was once your age," she said weakly, "I once thought the exact same thing that you're thinking now. I thought that I was strong. I thought I could handle anything that came my way. When Koko got into trouble, I thought I could save him. I thought I was good enough, but I wasn't, Mikan." Her tears spilled over her cheeks as her chin started to tremble. "I did all that for him, but when I needed him he left me. He _left _me to fend for my own. If you think that men are going to step out and save you when you need it – if you think that Prince Charmings really do exist – then you are terribly wrong, Mikan.

I'm not about to let you make this mistake. Not when it can kill you. Not when it can land you in the same state as I am. I didn't become a courtesan because I chose to. I was _violated_, by the biggest scum in this universe... after that there was nothing else I could do. Koko didn't save me. He didn't care enough to come back for me, even though he knew... he _knew..._" Sumire dissolved in hysterical, pained sobs as she sank onto the granite ground.

Mikan stared for a while, at a loss for what to do. She never knew Sumire had such a dark past. She had imagined that the problems between her and Koko were just normal, romantic ones, but evidently it was not the case. She knelt down awkwardly and drew Sumire into a hug. Sumire buried her face into Mikan's shoulder, and for a long time, both girls just sat there in the middle of the street, as Sumire let out wracking, miserable screams, letting out her pain for the first time, the first time since her heart had been ripped out from her chest, and she had lost any resemblance of dignity.

* * *

Perhaps it wasn't exactly a good idea to get himself so wasted in broad daylight, but Koko was three sheets to the wind, and in this situation, he could hardly care less.

He wasn't normally the conspicuous type of guy who drank and made a spectacle of himself in public, but Sumire had always been able to draw out the dark parts of his personality that even he didn't know he had.

Koko wandered on the streets, swaying slightly as he fought to keep his balance. The sun's striking rays pricked at his eyes as he squinted to see where he was going.

He completely deserved what he had gotten from Sumire, but that didn't mean that his heart hurt any less. The pain was devastating, because he knew that all her unspoken accusations were true; he had failed to save her, failed to protect her, failed _her_.

From his peripheral vision, Koko noticed a few of the passerbys stopping in their tracks to point and comment about him. He was in a such a damned mood that the jovial, accomodating side of his personality was completely gone for the moment. He couldn't endure another moment of the whispering. What did these people know? They knew nothing, they couldn't comprehend his pain.

"I can," a voice replied to his thoughts darkly, and in his inebriated state, Koko turned his gaze to stare at the man who had spoken. How did he -

"I can hear all your thoughts," the man murmured softly as he stepped closer to Koko, who felt as if he was being rooted to the ground against his will. He couldn't move. It was almost as if the man's voice was hypnotic, to a certain extent. Koko opened his dry mouth, but no words came out. His throat felt incredibly parched, and the dizziness that he was feeling was becoming stronger and stronger...

"I know how you feel," The man continued as he stood beside Koko, catching him when he fell off balance. "I know how it feels to fail someone who's so important to you."

Koko started to see black dots floating before his eyes, and before he lost his consciousness, he heard the man whispering into his ear:

"I, too, lost my world – the day the King died fifteen years ago."

* * *

"They have him."

"Wha – how?"

"Drunk, perhaps... I can't really see that well. My powers aren't as good as before, I'm afraid. That boy... what was he thinking? There must be something we can do about it. Luna?"

"Oh come on woman, you're not seriously sending me to do your dirty work for you now!"

"You have to get him, or Natsume's going to get into some serious trouble. Those two are not that easy to deal with, we'll have to help the boy past this crisis, or it's possible that he won't survive."

"Why are you so hung up on him anyway? He's pretty, yes, but from what I heard he's an ass. He won't like you anyway!"

"We have to do this before Naoki Hyuuga comes chasing after his cousin. By then, it'll be too late. He's a smart boy, he'll figure everything out."

"Yes, yes, really, why is all the hard work always delegated to me? Do you ever _work_, except for waving your hands and using small spells?"

"_Luna_. Time is of vast importance."

_Sigh_.

"I'll see what I can do about it."

* * *

Natsume was bored. Gravely so.

It had been necessary to stop at Haven, for it was a long while before they could reach another county, and everyone could do with the rest, but while the others might be satiated, Natsume was restless.

Everything was riling him up too easily. Mikan Sakura and her naivety, her stupidity, her _smile_. He rounded a corner, cursing under his breath. Furthermore, this town didn't seem to have much fresh air. For a town touted for its witchcraft and trickery, it had been too quiet to not seem suspicious. It was almost as if, as if it was the peace before the storm.

Natsume's gut told him that something big was going to happen, and that same gut also told him that it wasn't going to be something that he could be happy about. Figures, since he hadn't been happy ever since -

"Damn," Natsume hissed when he felt a hard pressure digging into his shoes. He looked down irritably to find a small puppy clinging to his shoe with its teeth. He sighed audibly. As if one Mikan wasn't enough, now even a little puppy wanted to rile him up?

Natsume shook his leg, trying to get the dog to loosen its grip without really hurting it, but after a few tries and failures, he got increasingly frustrated. "Fucking dog," he cussed loudly, reaching a hand down to peel it away from his foot.

That succeeded all right, but the dog got down on all fours and whined pitifully, as if lamenting that it hadn't had the chance to take a bigger bite out of Natsume's foot. "Yeah," Natsume laughed snarkily, "Fat chance."

He didn't know why he did it – his mind had been blank for the most of the afternoon – but the next moment, he was squatting down ridiculously by the sidewalk, reaching out a hand to pat the dog.

He wasn't trying to soothe or comfort it, Natsume scoffed at himself. He merely saw a bit of himself in the dog. They were both struggling, both unwilling to admit defeat, and also – they were both unable to win against Fate.

"We're friggin' pathetic souls, stupid dog," he muttered under his breath, reaching into his pocket and taking out a small piece of chocolate. He laid it down on the ground for the delighted dog, who sunk its fangs into the delicacy immediately.

After finishing its snack, the dog sat back on its haunches and waved its tail happily at Natsume. He couldn't stop a begrudging smile from spreading across his face as he watched the canine's idiotic, immediately trusting face – it was exactly like a certain girl he knew.

A small, tinkling laugh sounded from behind him, and Natsume whirled around at the suspiciously familiar voice only to find Mikan standing behind him, much to his horror.

Her eyes were filled with mirth and something else that he couldn't quite place. Surprise? Disbelief? Mikan laughed a bit more and kneeled down on the ground next to him, smoothing her skirts.

"I see you found your best friend, Natsume," she chirped smilingly as she looked at him, then at the dog. "What's his name? Are you going to keep him?"

Determined to preserve the last bit of his dignity, Natsume ignored the dog's continuously wagging tail, opting instead to flick a finger on Mikan's forehead harshly, making her squeak in pain.

"Beasts don't need names," he scoffed half-heartedly, "And no, I'm not going to keep him. I don't have the luxury to be keeping pets, as you can see."

Mikan glared at him balefully as she rubbed a hand over her rapidly reddening forehead. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Natsume cut in with, "Please, spare me the banal speech about how pets are good for cultivating character and keeping you company."

"I wasn't going to say that!"

Natsume rolled his eyes and got up, dusting his pants off and turning back towards the inn. "Hey! Wait!" Mikan called as she got up too and hurried to catch up to him. The dog remained at its place for a while, cocking its head to the side, before it scampered after Natsume, keeping at his heel obediently.

"Aw, he likes you so much, Natsume," Mikan cooed as she leaned down to pet the dog, causing it to bark joyfully.

Natsume clenched his jaw, set on not being affected by the addition of another idiot who liked to follow him around. "It's a she, idiot." He turned to look at Mikan, raising an eyebrow at her apparent idiocy.

"What? No way!" Mikan protested, her eyes wide with disbelief. "It's obviously a boy! Only boys act like this, isn't it?"

"You sexist female," Natsume hissed as he abruptly picked up the dog and raised it close to Mikan's face. "It doesn't have balls," he stated bluntly, as Mikan half-screamed and shoved her hands in front of her eyes. Through the spaces in her fingers, Natsume could see her skin reddening. He exhaled sharply in disbelief and deposited the dog on the ground again.

They were silent for a long while after that, and Natsume found himself relaxing unwittingly. It was hard not to, when he was in her company. He always managed to be too caught up in her stupidity to think too much about other, more serious stuff.

In a way, he was lucky to have her here, he thought.

Mikan smiled at the heartwarming scene of Natsume walking with the tiny puppy obediently following at his heel, all the while keeping its bright, beady eyes on Natsume. The dog obviously adored the guy.

Mikan suddenly felt very much at ease, the fortune teller's words earlier pushed to the back of her mind. She took back the words she had said about Natsume earlier. He _was _kind. Kind enough to spend time with a lonely stray dog in the streets, in fact. There really was so much she didn't know about him, she conceded as she turned to look at him properly.

For a strong, tall, authoritative member of royalty, he was surprisingly soft inside.

This was the kind of person she was travelling with, Mikan thought to herself. She couldn't be any luckier, honestly. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. Staying with him was safer than going anywhere else, and she wouldn't even dream of trying to make it to Touranne on her own.

She smiled softly to herself as she remembered all the times that Natsume had chided her for being too trusting. Perhaps he really was just worried.

"Stop staring at me," Natsume snapped at her as he deliberately angled his body away from her. Mikan didn't know exactly what had changed between them in the last ten minutes, but she did know that whilst she would just take his outburst at word value in the past, now she could accurately capture the uncomfortable undertones in his words, and she couldn't bring herself to be riled up over something like that.

Natsume turned to look at Mikan when she stayed silent. She was smiling at him, the expression a mixture of awe, of discovery, of gratitude. He turned away quickly, not wanting to bask too much in the sappiness that was Mikan Sakura, but allowed the hard lines of his mouth to relax into a smooth curve.

Stopping for a moment, he leaned down to pick up the puppy, whom he knew he wouldn't be able to get rid of for a while.

For just that one moment, making his way back to the inn with Mikan, Natsume had no worries on his mind, but when he looked up at the darkening skies, he couldn't help reminding himself that it was the calm before the storm.

And by the looks of it, the storm would be arriving pretty soon.

* * *

**A/N: **A bit of plot and character development for this chapter! I think it's the most juicy chapter so far for Prophecy, what do you guys think? Haha, I hope that you enjoyed reading this piece!


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

**WARNING: This chapter contains implied rape.**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_Five years ago_

Sumire was a baker's daughter. She wasn't suited for this sort of life, baking and collecting money, simply looking prim and proper behind the counter full of bread. At fifteen years old, Sumire hated the way her life had shaped itself out to become like a routine. A boring, boring routine.

Sumire ruffled her skirts a little in an attempt to curb her rebelliousness as she stared morosely out the window. Oh, how she would love to go on an adventure, to traverse all the forests there were out there, meet her Prince Charming and get swept off her feet.

She had thought that this dream would probably never come true, but recently she had been oddly satisfied with her life. Sumire was happy where she was, in her dreary and mundane life of being a good daughter to her parents, the only heir of the most well-known bakery in Lavencia.

She would never be able to marry above her station, but there were many rather eligible bachelors clamouring after her hand, and it boosted her ego enough, even though she wasn't interested in any of them.

It seemed as if only one boy was good enough to catch her interest, Sumire thought to herself, just as the door to the bakery opened and a disheveled, mud-covered boy stepped into the shop.

Sumire would have cringed and turned her nose up in disgust if it was any other boy who had stepped into her territory completely covered in mud, but this was Kokoro Yome -

The one boy who could make Sumire Shouda's hard, almost unfeeling heart start to flutter.

Koko grinned widely at her, one eye shut because of the presence of mud on his eyelid, and Sumire found herself smiling giddily back at him even though he looked immensely unattractive at the moment. She got up to her feet, smoothing her skirts back again in an effort to look presentable.

"Koko," she breathed.

"Hey, Perms," Koko grinned widely at her, "It took me a great load of trouble, but here." He held out a bunch of flowers which were muddied at the stems. "I found some flowers that are remotely able to match up to your beauty."

Sumire stared at the plain-looking flowers, a smile twitching the corners of her lips. "You and your sweet tongue," she chided as she walked over to him slowly and purposefully, in the way she would only ever walk in front of him.

"Let's get you cleaned up," she murmured when she was in front of him, and Koko gave her a soft smile, grabbing her hand with his dirty ones as he led her into the back of the shop.

Sumire stared at their entwined hands all the way into the house. His hands had been dirty, and now hers were too. She smiled, then grinned widely.

It was a beautiful sight.

* * *

It was two fortnights after the beautiful day Koko had brought her flowers. The flowers were already wilting, and Sumire felt herself wilting a little too as she looked out the window from her room to watch the dark, stormy clouds covering the sky outside. The rain poured in heavy, unyielding droplets, and lightning shot across the sky with deafening thunder accompanying it.

It had been two weeks since she last saw Koko.

A knock rapped on her door, and Sumire rose to her feet hastily, pulling the door open with unusual force, hoping desperately to see the person she had missed so much.

It was not Koko who was at her door. Instead, it was a familiar face. It was Koko's best friend since birth, Prince Natsume Hyuuga.

"Natsume!" Sumire cried. She had never been one for formalities, and Natsume Hyuuga wasn't either, hence from the moment she had been introduced to him by Koko, they had skipped the formalities and gone straight to being friends. The prince was cold to everyone else, but Sumire knew of his closeness with Koko. The two knew everything about each other, and only around the cheerful boy did Natsume let down his guard to show his rare, blinding smiles more often.

The prince was dripping from head to toe, his expression solemn as he stood bedraggledly at her doorstep. "Koko's in trouble," Natsume said grimly, and Sumire felt her heart sink.

She knew it. The moment she saw Natsume at her door, she had known that the only reason the prince would turn up at her door in the middle of the night would have to be Koko. Her heart constricted painfully, thumping wildly in her chest as she stared bewilderedly at Natsume.

"Is it not something you can solve?" She asked, even though she knew the answer to her own question.

Natsume met her gaze and held it for a long while, his eyes dark with worry and anger. "It's going to be hard," he replied slowly, "Sir Kimura is dead, and Koko is being held for murder."

* * *

Sumire swore that she would strangle the boy when she saw him again. Sir Kimura, dead! She paced around her room frantically after Natsume Hyuuga had left, anger burgeoning in her chest to replace the worry. She had told Koko not to do anything rash to the lord. She had told him that she would find a way out of the marriage her parents intended to push her into herself!

And now he'd gone and killed the man that she was slated to marry!

Sumire ran a frustrated hand through her green curls as tears started to gather in her eyes. Sir Kimura's father, Kimura Oshio, was of great importance to the court, playing advisor to the Chancellor. He wouldn't possibly let Koko go so easily for the death of his son. Koko would have to pay... in blood.

No. No, that could not happen. Sumire wouldn't allow it to happen. How could she watch her beloved walk towards the gallows and pretend that nothing was happening? How could she live on without the one person who filled up her whole heart?

There was no other question as to what she had to do. Sumire through open her wardrobe and pulled out her most fancy clothing, nodding to herself in persuasion. She was shaking in apprehension and abhorrence for what she was about to do, but she knew that she would have to do it.

If Natsume Hyuuga was unable to save Koko, the only one left to do it would be she herself.

* * *

"So, sweetheart," Kimura Oshio sneered at Sumire as his beady eyes raked greedily over her scantily clad body. "You mean to tell me that you're offering yourself in exchange for Kokoro Yome's measly, worthless life?"

Sumire licked her dry lips as her gaze flittered around the large, extravagant mansion that the Kimuras lived in. This would have been the family she would have married into, the riches she would have enjoyed, if Sir Kimura had not died.

If there had been no Koko.

Sumire found herself to not be harbouring any regrets for her decision as she turned her head to look luringly at the advisor. "Well, I don't supposed _I_ would be enough to change your decision," she ran a hand lightly over the older man's beefy arm, "but I do hope to change your mind regarding your decision on how to handle Koko for his crime." She fluttered her eyelashes a little, hoping it turned out as alluring as she hoped it would be.

Kimura Oshio smirked, his calloused hand reaching out to capture Sumire's wandering one in a tight grip. "Well, it's not as if things cannot be discussed," he drawled in a tone that sent shivers up Sumire's spine.

"If you're truly willing to make amends for your little lover..." Kimura continued, "I trust that you're... untouched?"

When Sumire nodded stiffly, the man's eyes lit up in glee. He pursed his lips and called for his manservant, whispering softly into the servant's ear. When the servant retreated after nodding, Kimura gestured for Sumire to come with him. Sumire smiled demurely, even though her heart felt as if it was going to fall out of her mouth.

"I would like to go to the washroom, for a moment, if you please," Sumire requested, "to make myself more presentable for you."

Kimura gulped lecherously and nodded. "Go on then," he said with a wave of his hand, "Come to the room at the end of the hall afterwards."

Sumire gave him a short smile before retreating, turning the way that the manservant had gone. She found him loitering near the kitchen, talking to the chef. Aware that she had only a scarce amount of time to accomplish what she wished to do, she hurried up to him, pressing a wad of dollar bills into the young boy's hands.

"Please help me, Sumire pleaded as she folded the boy's fingers over the money. "Go to the jail, pass this message to Koko. Tell him to come for me at the Kimura's mansion. Tell him to hurry. You just have to do this for me, please. If this is not enough, I'll give you more when you've done this."

The boy looked reluctant for a while as he looked from the money in his hands to Sumire's desperate, pleading face. Then, he nodded at her, to Sumire's immense relief, and disappeared behind the back door.

Satisfied, Sumire made her way to the room Kimura Oshio had told her about. Everything would be fine, she told herself uncertainly as she walked on. Koko would come for her.

Everything would be fine.

Sumire reached the room and twisted the doorknob open with her shaking hands. Kimura was sitting in the armchair in front of the fireplace, clad in only his dressing gown. Sumire could see all the flabby lumps of fat on his body, and she winced in disgust as she stepped into the room, clasping her sweaty hands together.

"Sweetheart," Kimura leered, "Come over here and let's get started, shall we?"

"Wait. You have to give the order to let Koko go first."

The man frowned, straightening his back. "And let you have a chance to run? I don't think so, darling."

Sumire took a shuddering breath before continuing, "I won't be able to run. You know that, don't you? Besides, I'm resigned for what I have to do. I'm the one who can't be sure whether you'll let Koko go after this. I have to make sure he's okay before I – before I do what I have to do."

Kimura thought about it for a moment before nodding resignedly. "Very well." He rang for a servant and whispered some orders into his ear before sending him off. "Satisfied?" he asked, sending a depracating look in Sumire's way.

Convinced, Sumire took a shaky step towards him, reminding herself that she would only have to bear with the man's disgusting company and touches for a while. Koko would be able to arrive here shortly, considering the jail's short distance from the Kimuras' abode. He would be able to save her from her predicament then, and they would all be fine.

A soft smile found its way onto her lips when she thought of seeing Koko again, alive and well, grinning at her.

Sumire made her way over to the bed reluctantly, laying down stiffly as Kimura approached her with glinting, lustful eyes. She shut her eyes tight as his gaze ran down her body, awaiting her fate.

Slowly, Kimura peeled away Sumire's clothes as she lay unmoving on the bed. Unlike the soft, fluttering feeling that she always felt when Koko touched her hand, all she felt now was dirty as the man pulled away the rest of her clothes. She shivered when the cold air reached her skin, praying desperately in her mind for Koko to come.

Kimura's wet lips descended on the skin of Sumire's neck, and she shuddered in aversion. It had already been more than half an hour since the servant was dispatched to the jail, which was merely a ten minutes walk away. Why wasn't Koko here? He should have reached here by now.

Sumire felt her eyes flying open as Kimura's touches started to become more and more offensive. Her throat was dry and tight, tears gathering in her eyes as she wondered what Koko was doing instead of rushing to her rescue immediately.

She would forgive him, Sumire thought to herself. She would forgive his tardiness, if he would just come for her, come before everything was too late.

* * *

The cell was dark, cold and lonely, and Koko hated himself for getting into such a situation. Sumire must be worried sick, he thought as he stared at the only source of light streaming into the cell from the small, barred window.

Sumire was his light. His life had been dark and cold before he met her. Being the son of a renowned thief, he had to fight to make a living. People turned their noses up at him. No respectable girl would come near him, but Sumire was different. She brought light into his life.

Sumire seemed to be bratty and unreasonable in front of other people, but Koko knew her better. She had a heart of gold, for she never even killed an ant. She loved nature, chocolate, pink roses...

She loved him, and he loved her in return.

Koko was still young, at fifteen years of age, but he already knew that the only bride for him was Sumire. As long as he had her by his side, everything felt as if it would get better.

Yes, it would get better, he told himself firmly as he stood up from his crossed-legged position on the floor of the cell. Even if he died for this, a crime which he had not committed, as long as Sumire was alive and happy, everything was fine for him.

As long as he could continue to watch over her from whereever he was...

The rattling of chains shook Koko back to his senses, and he found himself staring in the crimson red eyes of Natsume Hyuuga. "What are you doing here, dude?" he asked, shocked, as the latter grinned at him from behind the bars of the cell, unlocking the lock that was keeping him in.

"Well," Natsume tutted, "If we can't get you out legally, we'll just have to break you out of this fucking place, right?"

The boy looked so confident that Koko couldn't help but grin a little at his friend's foolhardiness.

_Well, Perms, looks like I won't be dying just of yet._

* * *

Koko never came.

The pain that Sumire felt as her violation became complete was not only that of a physical pain. Her heart hurt so much worse, it hurt so much that she thought she was going to die of it.

Fat droplets of tears rolled down her cheeks as Kimura left her and exited the room. She clutched the blankets up to her body and wrapped them securely around her, yet never feeling safe.

She was dirty, so dirty.

Sumire let out hysterical sobs as she buried her face into her knees, her body shrinking into a ball. She felt so pathetic, for she knew, she knew she would have forgiven Koko had he come any time during her ordeal. If he had just come, she could have forgiven whatever she had gone through.

He hadn't.

And now she had fallen, deep deep into the pits of hell.

* * *

**A/N: **A little background story for this chapter. I've been meaning to delve into Koko and Sumire's background for a while now, and this is it.

I'm sorry for the week long wait for this chapter, I was just busy with preparing for graduation and prom, haha. But now it's all over, and I hope to keep up with the fast updates now! :)

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, despite how disturbing it was for me to write it.

I'll get around to review replies tomorrow because I'm lazy, haha, but just a shoutout to **SeraphMia**, I researched on chocolate's effect on dogs a bit before adding it into my story, so don't worry about the little pup dropping dead. Chocolates are bad for dogs, yes, and can indeed kill them, but what I've read tells me that only when they eat more than a certain amount of chocolate, they die. It's because chocolate contains something that's poisonous to them? But a little bit of chocolate isn't enough to kill, so don't worry. :)


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

The forest was dark, cold and just a little too scary for his tastes, but he forced himself to move faster, despite moving on foot and having no horse.

The cold air assailed his frame as he pushed aside branches and various debris lying on the ground, trudging forward tiredly. Haven was supposed to only be almost a day's walk away, but he had been travelling for almost two days and hadn't even seen a sign of human life in the forest.

He shuddered a little as he thought of how things were back home. It was almost as worse as it was out here, trying to survive on his own. He had to get to his cousin, or his father would come after the latter himself, and it surely wouldn't be a pretty sight, despite how much his father seemed to dote on the boy.

He caught sight of a small glimmer of light shining through the crack of leaves, and allowed a relieved smile to grace his handsome features, his keen red eyes focusing on the point and making his way there steadily.

The forest opened to reveal a small cliff, and right before him, lay the legendary town of Haven in all its glory. He allowed himself to admire the scenery for a short while before sliding down the slight cliff face, dropping into a small alley away from the main road.

He could see the large, wooden signboard bearing the words 'INN' in the distance, and hastily brushed the dirt off his tattered pants as he started racing towards his destination.

If the chaos at the entrance of the inn was any indication, things had already started without him.

* * *

Luna clicked her tongue impatiently as she tapped her foot several times on the cobblestone floor, ignoring the animosity that was being directed at her by the various labourers surrounding her.

Damn it. It only served to make her job that much more difficult to complete, and she wasn't even doing it because she wanted to in the first place. While she was going through her mental rant about her circumstances, Luna made sure to add a few curses directed at the person who made her come all the way here -

Only to be flat out rejected when she asked to see Natsume Hyuuga.

Really? _Really_, she rolled her eyes as she surveyed her surroundings, finding nothing but cold, firm faces. "I need to see Natsume Hyuuga," Luna repeated for the umpteenth time, allowing a bit of her biting anger to seep into her tone.

"Well, just because you need to see him doesn't mean he needs to see _you_," a burly man scoffed.

Luna would have punched his face in if assaulting a member of his crew wasn't going to affect her credibility in front of the prince later on. Her lips thinned and she crossed her arms as the workers formed a tight circle around her. She laughed snidely. "What, are we playing a game I don't know of?"

All of them simultaenously bared their teeth at her, and Luna found herself marvelling at just how well trained these dogs would have to be to have such great chemistry with each other, however lacking of brains they were.

"You'll leave before Koko comes back," a more amiable member of the crowd stepped up. "He'll kick your ass."

Luna actually laughed out loud at that one. "Oh I'm sure he will. _When_ he gets back, that is."

The crowd suddenly parted in the middle, and Luna let out a breath of both frustration and relief, thinking that something she had said had finally passed through those thick-headed skulls, only to be sorely disappointed when she saw a flamboyantly dressed woman moving through the crowd to stand before her.

Beautiful, yes, but dressed too distastefully for Luna to be impressed.

The woman's jade green eyes landed somberly on hers. "What do you mean _when_ he gets back?" she asked. "What have you done to him?"

The bustling crowd fell into a heavy silence, while Luna resisted the overpowering urge to just strangle each and every one of these people, then return home to murder that manipulating old woman.

"I haven't done anything to him, but someone will, soon, if I don't see Natsume Hyuuga."

The woman's face froze as her whole demeanour grew antagonistic. "Who's your accomplice?"

Luna gaped at her for a while before replying, "I was commissioned to come here by the former mayor's late wife, Lady Rafey. I wasn't the one who whisked off your little boyfriend, but I assure you," Luna raised her eyebrows sardonically as she stepped forward, forcing the woman before her to take a flustered step backward, "If I don't see Natsume Hyuuga in another, I don't know, ten seconds, you can all start finding jobs elsewhere, because he certainly won't be able to hire you six feet underground."

The woman looked stricken, even shaking a little as she swallowed. "He's not here," she wrung her hands helplessly. "He went out a while ago and he's not back yet -"

"Well, I see him there," Luna pointed in the direction of the back alley, looking disbelievingly at the woman's evident blindness, "Red eyes, black hair, fits the description of him that I was given. Although he does look slight more wimpy then he's supposed to be..."

The aforementioned boy came to a stop in front of them, breathing heavily as he held onto his knees. "Please," he rasped the moment he could catch his breath, "I need to see Natsume Hyuuga."

Luna stood stunned for a moment before rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Great, now we have another one."

* * *

The pain was excruciating, and it attacked him again and again, relentlessly.

Vaguely, as he flickered in and out of consciousness, Koko heard the sharp cracks of a whip, and subsequently felt the blows on his body.

He opened his mouth to scream as his captor threw the whip across him again, leaving a large, open and bleeding gash on his chest. No sound came out of his chapped lips, and even as he struggled, the ropes binding him to the small wooden chair held fast.

"Stop."

Koko looked up, forcing his eyes to focus even though all he could see were still blurry outlines of two people standing before him. There was a small figure, and then another larger one. He heaved as he tried to catch his breath, knowing that his ordeal was far from over. The place he was being held in smelled putrid, and hardly any light got into the tiny room, even though it was smack in the middle of the afternoon. He couldn't feel his limbs anymore, and the only liquid in his mouth was blood. Even his brain refused to focus, and remained blank despite how much he wanted to leave this place. He was currently incapable of conjuring up a plan to escape, that much he knew.

"What are you doing?" A woman's voice chided softly as the smaller figure sidled up to the bigger one. "He's merely a means to get to the end we want. There's no need to torture him."

"He's with Natsume Hyuuga." The taller figure was evidently the dominant one holding the strings in whatever relationship they had, for his answer was short, precise, and irrefutable.

"Rei -" The woman protested, and Koko felt himself freeze. _Rei_. It was him. Rei Serio, the most trusted advisor of the former king, the late King Hyuuga's best friend. He had disappeared on the night the royal family had gone through a large-scale massacre, in which the king and queen, along with over a hundred royal servants, had met their doom.

No one had seen him ever since, but if Rei Serio was here right now, holding him captive, that would mean that he was working against Natsume. Why would he do that? From what little Koko knew about Natsume's family, the one of the only things he could be certain about was that Rei Serio was unconditionally loyal to the late king, and was touted for being completely trustworthy.

Were the rumours untrue, or had his loyalties simply changed along with the king's death?

"Don't say anymore. He and his little bunch of friends deserve this treatment. For what they've done..."

"Rei. He's innocent."

"If he follows the Hyuuga boy, he's sure to have had blood stained upon his hands. He's nothing more than a murderer as well."

With that said, the man turned. Koko heard the door creaking open, and for a while, sunlight streamed into the room, only to be cut off once again when the door closed with a small bang. Koko felt some movements next to him, but his mind was reeling too much for him to care. He had expected the Chancellor to come after them, the Royal Army perhaps, but Rei Serio? The revelation had him rattled beyond belief, and all he could do was sit slumped over with his hands tied behind his back as the woman from earlier leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Bear with it. I won't let him hurt you."

With that, she too was gone with a swish of her robes.

* * *

"We're not having beef for dinner!" Mikan huffed as she glared at Natsume. Their temporary truce from earlier was seemingly completely gone now, and there was nothing but disgust in Mikan's eyes as she stared daggers at the boy, who merely smirked at her.

"No one's stopping you from starving yourself," Natsume adjusted the puppy in his arms as he raised an eyebrow at the fuming girl next to him. "We'll conserve the beef. You're all about conservation, aren't you?"

"It isn't the same! How can you kill a being just to eat it? That's just, just..._uncouth_." Mikan shook her head disbelivingly, "And to think I thought you were a good person because you saved a stray dog! I take back whatever good thoughts I had of you just now!" She pursed her lips as Natsume and shook her head violently, uttering a loud 'ugh' and stomping forward to the inn that was now in sight.

Natsume exhaled, putting the puppy down on the floor as it looked deploringly up at him. "I'll throw you out if you give me that look again," he warned irritably as he hastened after Mikan's footsteps, "One irritating female is enough. I don't need another one questioning my morals."

The dog whimpered, and Natsume snorted. "You can't seriously believe that I'll throw you out -"

A high-pitched shriek of despair echoed from within the inn, and Natsume's head snapped towards it, his eyebrows coming together into a frown. Ahead of him, Mikan had already caught wind of the voice, and disappeared quickly into the doorway of the inn.

When Natsume entered the inn with the puppy tottering at his heels, he was greeted with a sight of Sumire hunched over the wooden table, bawling her eyes out as an unknown woman with blonde hair and steely blue eyes turned to look at him expectantly.

"I've been waiting for you," she said flatly.

From his peripheral vision, Natsume noticed Mikan – who had rushed over to give Sumire a comforting hug – turning to look suspiciously at him. He shook the look off, despite how uncomfortable he felt knowing all the stupid thoughts that must be running around in her head right now.

"So have I," another voice sounded just as Natsume was opening his mouth. He'd recognize that voice anywhere, and his suspicions were confirmed when he turned to look into eyes that were the same shade of red that his was.

"Wow," Mikan gasped, standing up, "I never knew you had a twin, Natsume!"

Natsume barely had time to roll his eyes before the boy ran forward from the secluded corner he was hiding in and pulled his slightly taller frame down for a hug. He winced a little, but allowed the boy to do as he wished. When he finally pulled away, he nodded curtly. "Naoki."

"Natsume, I've been looking for you for _forever_," the boy gushed as he started to walk around in circles, serving no purpose other than making Natsume feel dizzy. "Father's hopping mad that you just upped and left. He almost killed all of the guards guarding the gates! I knew he was bound to send someone after you, so I left before the soldiers could to warn you -"

"Well," Luna chipped in dryly, "Is anyone here concerned about Kokoro Yome at all, or have I come to the wrong place?"

Naoki clammed his mouth shut immediately, having the decency to look a little guilty for interrupting what Natsume now assumed was an extremely important meeting regarding Koko. God knew what trouble that idiot had gotten himself into again.

Natsume turned towards the rather miffed Luna, inclining his head towards her as an indication for her to move on with whatever topic she wished to bring up. She gestured for him to go closer to her, and when he did, she tugged on him rather violently – as a form of revenge, Natsume thought – and pulled him down to her level.

The room was heavily silent as Luna placed a manicured hand at Natsume's temple. "This might be uncomfortable," she whispered into his ear, "Adjust yourself." Almost immediately, a strong feeling of nausea assailed Natsume, giving him no chance at all to 'adjust' himself as Luna had said.

His body felt as if it were spiralling in space, feather-light, not held down by anything at all. His mind filled with millions and millions of pictures that he had to analyze slowly one by one as they flickered in his mind.

Every single one of them involved Koko, bloody and beaten, tied up to a flimsy chair and abandoned inside a mouldy, dark warehouse.

It was hard to watch without fufilling the urge to empty his stomach out on the floor right then, because the image was so very clear – clearer than a human could ever see things. Every bit of his skin, every detail of his wounds were as if they were enlarged before Natsume's eyes, for he noticed all the torn bits of flesh, and it wasn't pleasing to his eyes at all.

The vision subsided in a flash, and Natsume found himself doing the very thing he hated to do – displaying weakness. He sank to the ground, breathing heavily, and the next moment Mikan was by his side, attempting to aid him in standing up. Suddenly feeling grouchy and ashamed, he shoved her hand away roughly, though Mikan's small gasp of hurt was clear enough to him.

Natsume managed to stand up, his knees trembling just the slightest, as he turned to look firmly into Luna's eyes. "Who are you," he demanded as he stumbled forward, "You're not human."

Luna shrugged, unperturbed even as all the pairs of eyes in the room turned towards her incredulously. "I may not be, but I hardly think that that's a cause of concern right now, considering that your dear friend is currently hanging onto his last breath."

Natsume closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. "Whoever you are, you're here to help us," he stated.

Luna puffed her cheeks out and breathed out heavily. "Finally, someone who sees sense."

* * *

Mikan knew that saving Koko was of utmost importance, and the reason that she was sitting on the steps outside, hugging her knees to herself, was not because she was sulking.

Sure, Natsume had made clear that he didn't need her around even if he needed help, so why would she make herself a nuisance trying to fit in with his group?

Mikan felt a small jab of guilt as stared unhappily at the dark skies and the rain that was now pouring onto the ground, leaving small puddles of water waiting for someone to unfortunately step into it and get their shoes wet.

She seriously had her priorities jacked up if she was sitting here moping because of a silent rejection, instead of trying to help them save her cheery friend. Mikan felt unwanted tears prick at her eyes as she bowed her head down, shaking a little. Koko had been nothing but a good friend to her, and now, and now -

She was powerless to save him.

Mikan had caught glimpses of the conversation between Natsume and Luna after the vision that she had given Natsume. The conversation had been tense and low, but Mikan had always been gifted with good hearing, so she was able to hear more or less a little.

They were preparing to fight for Koko's life, she thought morosely as she picked at her fingernails. And from what little she had seen of Natsume and Koko's tight-knit relationship, and Natsume's stubborn yet loyal personality, he would do anything to save Koko.

Even if it meant giving up his own life.

And it was irrational, stupid, selfish and uncalled for to think the way she did, but Mikan truly abhorred the idea of Natsume getting hurt to save Koko. She'd actually rather -

The thought came unbidden into her head, but Mikan shoved it away with a few violent shakes. She wouldn't allow herself to think that way. She was being nothing but self-centered. Natsume wasn't even anything too special to her, it was simply because he was her only lead to the Flower of Yulia, her mother's only hope, that she was feeling this way.

With these shameful thoughts running a riot inside her head, Mikan couldn't bear to stay inside and think up a plan with the rest of the group. She couldn't. She wasn't good enough, not when all she was thinking about was self-preservation. Mikan hated herself for it, but she couldn't stop herself for feeling that way.

Soft footsteps tapped on the floor before a heavy weight sank down on the stairs next to her, making the old stairs creak a little.

Mikan met a pair of bright crimson eyes, and a wide, warm smile. It was the boy from earlier who bore an uncanny resemblance to Natsume, but now that Mikan had the chance to take a closer look, this boy was very much different from the sour, cold

For one, Natsume wouldn't be caught dead smiling like this, with all his top teeth bared for the world to see.

The boy's smile faltered a little, and Mikan blushed when she realized that she had been staring, hastily looking away.

"Hi," he quipped, holding a hand out to her in a friendly gesture, "I'm Naoki Hyuuga, Natsume's cousin."

"Hi," Mikan murmured meekly, grabbing his hand with her own, blushing a little more when she felt the warmth seep through his body to hers. It was almost like electricity, the way she reacted to him.

Naoki studied her closely for a while, despite her embarrassment, before opening his mouth again. "I heard about you from him just now, and I think I might be able to understand how you feel..."

"You do?" Mikan asked, her mouth opened into a small 'o'.

"Yeah, I guess..." Naoki scratched his head, abashed, "I'm really quite good at reading people. Even Natsume says so. You're feeling hurt because he brushed you off earlier, right? You like him."

Mikan felt her face getting hot, her hands suddenly feeling too awkward on her lap. She fumbled around for a comfortable place to put them, determinedly ignoring Naoki's knowing glance as she choked on thin air.

"I – I don't!" she coughed, "It's not because of that – who would like that arrogant jerk! _You_ would be much better!"

This time, it was Naoki's turn to turn red. They stared at each other amidst the pouring rain, their faces flushed and bodies stiff. It seemed to be eons before anyone finally opened their mouth.

"You think?" Naoki murmured softly, looking at her intently.

Mikan licked her lips a little self-consciously, looking back into his eyes. "Yeah, well, you're kind, nice, well-mannered... everything that that pompous prince isn't."

The smile that Naoki gave her in response was devastating. Mikan briefly wondered how many women had fallen at the feet of this charismatic and friendly boy. Another thought flashed into her mind, but she shook it away darkly, cursing herself for being so weak.

Naoki stood up in one fluid motion, smoothing the creases in his pants, and Mikan found herself a tad bit disappointed that he was leaving so soon, only to be appeased when the boy held out a hand to pull her up, grinning widely at her.

"Come on, Mikan. My stupid cousin needs you more than he thinks."

* * *

The night was silent. In a large, extravagant office tucked away in the main castle, the Chancellor of the kingdom paced around slowly, his bright, observant eyes focused on the two portraits hung up on the wallpapered wall of the office.

The smiling faces of his brother and his wife looked back at him as he glared hatefully at their unmoving faces.

Well, _brother_," he hissed, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, "Apparently now even my Naoki has gone into the mix. You must be pretty happy with how things are progressing, huh? I've worked so hard for this postion, for the right to hold this power, but with the way Natsume is going, it seems as if it'll all be gone soon enough, isn't it?"

He reached a long, slender finger out to trace a line across his brother's neck. When he pulled his finger away, a burnt line had appeared on the portrait at the exact spot, making it look as if the king had had his head cut off.

Pleased, the Chancellor threw his head back and laughed.

_I won't let your precious son ruin things for me, brother._

* * *

**A/N: **I'm genuinely sorry for another long wait, haha. This chapter require more planning? I guess? Haha anyway it's a longer than usual chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm sorry that I haven't been replying to reviews, I didn't realize that I would be even busier during the holidays than during schooldays, haha. I promise to get to it tomorrow! For the meantime, please enjoy this chapter. It hasn't been proofread yet, since it's twelve in the morning, but I'll get to it tomorrow. :)

With this chapter, the other baby boy has officially entered the mix! Wahahaahaha~


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

Natsume had always been a suspicious person by nature, which was why it took a lot for him to be able to put aside his inhibitions about Luna and trust her to lead them to Koko.

His mind whirled and his stomach churned uncomfortably as Luna delivered the directions to the warehouse to him in a monotonous voice. His eyes flickered over her petite structure. She looked completely harmless standing before him, but he knew better than to judge people based on their appearances. Could she be trusted, or was this another trap set by his uncle?

It was a huge risk to take, trusting a complete stranger who had just sauntered into the inn, but this was about Koko.

For that friend of his, Natsume was willing to lay down his life.

Not that his life was worth much anyway, he thought bitterly. He was merely an orphan with no kin, and tons of enemies.

"Natsume Hyuuga. I'm going to lead you into a bloody river if you don't start paying attention right _now_," Luna seethed, planting her hands onto her hips. 'The longer you spend drifting off, the higher the chances are that your stupid friend is dead. Though I wouldn't feel too sorry for that little sucker, getting himself dead drunk in the middle of the day -"

"Watch your words," Natsume snarled.

Luna sniffled and squared her shoulders defiantly. "You shouldn't challenge me. I know more about the human world that you ever have and ever will. I also happen to wield much more power than you think I do. Don't think, even for one little moment, that you have control over me, puny human."

"I have never once thought to hold control over fairies," he replied sombrely, "There's no knowing when they'll turn around and stab you in the back, you see."

Luna flinched, her expression uncomfortable as she sank down onto the chair, an unreadable expression on her face. "Perhaps you've met the unsavoury ones," she bit out carefully, "but that doesn't mean that we're all the same. Even those who might have done you wrong, they might simply have had a moment of clouded judgement. Everyone makes mistakes. Even immortals like us do."

Natsume's brows came together as he regarded the fairy calmly, thoughtfully. "And how are you to know what happened to me?"

She met his eyes fiercely.

"I'm a fairy, Natsume Hyuuga. Each tiny part of your life, they're all in my hands."

* * *

With the help of Luna's all-seeing eye, finding the warehouse where Koko was being held captive in was no difficult task. What was difficult was planning their next move. Natsume was no fool, and he knew very well that Rei Serio had immense power. He had been strong in the past, and with all the years that had gone by, surely he had acquired a large amount of wisdom and experience to complement his physical strength.

If they were to rush in like fools, they would certainly be running towards their deaths.

Natsume tapped his foot irritably as he shot a quick glance at the solemn girl standing close to him. He shook his head, disgusted at himself. It definitely wouldn't do for him to be bothered too much by how Naoki had returned together with Mikan, both of them laughing cheerily as they stepped across the threshold.

Natsume clenched his fists and trained his eyes on the warehouse, trying to ignore the scent of cherries and flowers – a very familiar scent by now – wafting into his nostrils as Mikan shuffled her feet and fidgeted beside him.

He had better things to think about at the moment, he told himself. Like how to save Koko.

His expression darkened as his ears picked up a vague shout of pain from inside the building. "That bastard," he hissed vehemently, "I'll _kill_ him."

His focus had just returned to the mission at hand when a small hand on his elbow gave him a sharp jolt of awareness. The hand retreated quickly, as if the perpetrator herself knew how inappropriate it had been for her to touch him.

Natsume turned and inclined his head towards Mikan, while he kept Luna in his peripheral vision. The fairy carried herself regally, commanding Koko's workers as if they were her own. The way she carried herself almost made her seem like royalty.

Natsume scoffed, and turned his full attention onto Mikan. Something burned inside of him as he watched her flushed face, remembering the way she had leaned on his shoulder and slept throughout the night. Then he recalled the way Naoki and her had been linking arms, the way her eyes had crinkled as she smiled up at him, the flush on Naoki's face that only appeared when he was interested... The fire in his stomach quickly fizzled out, replaced by a strong annoyance – perhaps even anger – that he couldn't quite place himself.

"Will you be all right?" Mikan asked, her eyes wide with worry as her hand unconsciously returned to his elbow again.

"Nice of you to worry about my wellbeing when my friend might be breathing his last in that blasted warehouse."

Mikan frowned, and Natsume cursed himself for even feeling the slightest bit chastened by her reaction. "Nothing will go wrong," he muttered gruffly, "We're just going in to get him out. We're not going to fight -"

"You will not succeed," a feminine, abeit strong voice, boomed across the area.

Natsume stiffened immediately. Mikan gasped, while Luna turned to stare at the warehouse with her eyes wide open. "He has a prophet on his side," she murmured, her delicate face going a deathly shade of white.

"What the fuck is going on?" Natsume hissed.

"They know that we're here," Luna replied, slowly regaining some of her bearings. "The mission is aborted."

"But Koko is inside there!" Mikan cried in distress. "We can't leave him... Isn't there something else that we could do?"

"I'm not leaving Koko here," Natsume insisted.

"Stop being stubborn," Luna let out ragged breaths that did nothing to conceal her apparent fear. "A prophet will be able to forsee everything. A prophet can _kill_ us all before we even traverse half of the distance towards the warehouse. We don't stand a chance."

"You're a bloody fairy. You can do something about this," Natsume growled, taking a step towards Luna.

"Even fairies know how to step back when the situation is not favourable," She hissed right back, stepping forward so that they were practically nose to nose. Baring her teeth at him, she added, "Obviously you lack our brains."

"Stop! You shouldn't be fighting at this time," Mikan tried to reason as she stepped between the both of them. Natsume glared at her.

"She said she wants me," a panting Naoki cut in as he ran up from where he was among the workers, working out their infiltration strategy.

Natsume felt his mood plummet even further, faster than a speeding rocket. "She said what?" he asked as he turned and levelled a furious look at his cousin.

That stupid prude wanted _who_?

"Me," Naoki repeated obliviously as Luna snorted behind him.

Whirling around to glare at Mikan, Natsume saw that all the blood had drained from the girl's face, and she was hyperventilating slightly, even. A flash of concern came and went.

"I object," he said, keeping his face stony.

Luna held one palm up, an imperious air about her as she shook her head disbelievingly. "Look, their intents and purposes are unknown for now, but I doubt that they want to inflict any harm if they're asking instead of just taking."

"You can't let them take Naoki!" Mikan gripped Natsume's sleeve as she looked up at him imploringly. "You know that Koko is suffering right now, so how can you let Naoki go with them in exchange for Koko? No life is cheaper than another, no one deserves to be made a sacrifice -"

Naoki? Who said anything about using Naoki to bargain for Koko's freedom? "What the hell are you talking about?" He cast a suspicious, short glance at both Mikan and Naoki. "I'm not sure I understand the situation right now."

"Weren't you listening? Natsume, seriously," Luna furrowed her brows in disbelief, "The prophet made another loud, booming broadcast saying that she'll let Koko go if you hand over your cousin. Which part of it did you not hear? Don't tell me," her lips quirked disdainfully, "Your mind was elsewhere."

He honestly hadn't heard, and Natsume chided himself mentally for losing his mind over a mere chit of a girl. He had to focus, and hell if he was going to give up the only person in the royal family who had been true to him.

"No, he's not going."

Mikan breathed a sigh of relief, muttering "Thank God," while Naoki exhaled sharply and stamped his foot down on the grass.

"I'm going."

"You're not," Natsume snarled, his hands balling into fists at his side. He would never do something as cowardly as taking the easy way out at the expense of someone else. Especially when it came to Naoki. He was like a brother. He was just as important as Natsume as Koko was, and he certainly was not going to cut off his left arm to save his right.

Natsume would knock his cousin out himself if it would save him from being foolhardy.

"I'm with Naoki Hyuuga," Luna reminded him, her lips curling upwards into a sly smile. "They won't hurt him. He should go, if that means that we get your friend back the easy way. You do want him back, don't you? That courtesan lying unconscious back at the inn seems to want him back desperately."

Natsume's jaw clenched as he remembered Sumire, who had fainted from the stress and horror of hearing that Koko had been captured. If their mission failed, there was no doubt that she would be ruined too. More than one life was at stake here, but...

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Luna cursed as she waved a hand impatiently. "Surely you're not insouciant about your friend's fate! Every single second that we spend here shuffling about increases the chances of his death."

"Naoki is a human too," Mikan squared her shoulders. "He shouldn't be used like some commodity!"

"And you," Luna huffed as her hand moved, creating a slightly blue-ish, swirling vortex of magical power. Natsume shot a warning look at her, but she looked away. "Stop being so naive," she continued sharply. "The world isn't as simple as you think. Sometimes people die," she paused when Mikan blanched, "Sometimes they're betrayed. Sometimes they're sacrificed. There's never really any right or wrong. You draw your own lines. You make your own judgements."

The light slowly became brighter and brighter, and with a whoosh of wind, it enveloped Naoki. He was gone from his position in merely a blink of an eye.

Natsume started, his eyes widening when he realized what had just transpired before him. "You bitch -"

Mikan stood gaping as Luna turned back to her, her blue eyes hard as steel.

"You make the best decisions for yourself," She continued steadily, stopping a furious Natsume in his tracks with her magic. "Whether your friends acquiesce or not. You do what is best for them and yourself."

Mikan felt her eyes burning, tears pressing at the back of them. She wanted so badly to disagree with Luna's cold, unfeeling words, but as she looked at the older girl, no words came out of her mouth.

For what she saw behind the pair of strong blue eyes were feelings that she never expected the sassy and proud fairy to harbour beneath the surface – startling sorrow and emptiness.

* * *

The stench of dried and flesh blood besieged Naoki's senses the moment he arrived in the warehouse, transported by Luna's magic. An unknown fear gripped him, a fear that couldn't be explained, a fear caused by the lingering menace about the place.

He had to blink profusely before his eyes adjusted to the bleak darkness inside, and then when he found Kokoro Yome, he had to force the bile that rose up his throat back down.

The person that he saw strapped to the small wooden chair in the middle of the room could hardly be recognized anymore. The smell of rotting flesh permeated the air around Koko, and when he lifted his headly weakly to catch a glimpse of Naoki, the latter gasped and took a step backwards in shock.

Was this person before him really the fun and flippant Koko that Natsume and he had known for most of their lives? He certainly didn't look like the handsome young tavern owner, for this person's face had tons of slash marks over it, and most of those wounds were still open and bleeding profusely.

"Nao?" Koko croaked from his position, and Naoki felt his knees give way, a broken sob rising up his throat.

He sank to his knees and shuffled forward awkwardly, not daring to look Koko straight in the eye for fear that he might just break down.

He was a man. He was a member of the royal family. He was born to a fate that required him to be strong, for he had a father who never once cared about him.

Yet, the sight before him pained him so much.

"Koko," he breathed as he laid a hand onto his friend's battered arm gently.

"Huh," Koko grinned, then winced as the skin around his mouth tore even further. "So you decided to join in the mix, huh?"

Naoki smiled weakly, then reached behind Koko's back to try to free him of his bonds.

"It won't work, that thing's held together by magic. My magic," a soft voice said.

Naoki let out a shout of surprise before turning around quickly.

The figure hovering near the doorway was small. In fact, the girl's doe eyes and petite stature made her seem completely harmless. For her to have done something like this to a grown man like Koko...

He swallowed before opening his mouth, one hand still frozen on the knot that held Koko to the rickety chair. "Did you..."

"Rei did it," she replied serenely. "But I had a hand in his capture, so it doesn't really matter that much, does it?"

"You asked for me," Naoki croaked, his voice hoarse. Beside him, Koko moaned in agony, twisting against his bonds. Another one of his wounds had opened, Naoki noted with panic. He needed immediate medical attention, or there was no telling whether he would make it even if Naoki got him out.

"You asked for me," he swallowed.

"Yes," The small woman took a step forward. "It was the only thing Rei would agree to. The only reason he would allow you friend here to go alive."

Naoki was trembling. He picked himself up, balancing with much difficulty on his wobbly legs. "Why? Why do you want me?"

"We've been looking for you since your birth. You are... crucial to our plan. To our survival. To our revenge."

He stayed silent, his mouth open.

"You are," the woman continued, "the crux of everything that has happened since fifteen years ago."

* * *

Natsume was ready to wring that stupid little fairy's neck, if not for the restraining hand that Mikan kept fixed tightly onto his arm.

No matter, he thought to himself darkly, he would get Luna sooner or later. How dare she? How dare she send his only true kin into the lion's den all by himself?

All sorts of worried and murderous thoughts were flitting through his mind at an amazing speed. Natsume remained lost to the world until Mikan squeezed his arm painfully, murmuring disbelievingly, "They're out."

His head snapped up, and the first things that he saw were Luna's knowing and mocking eyes. Then, he saw two small figures slowly magnifying, slowly getting clearer. Koko was leaning on Naoki a they both limped forward, Naoki limping because of the weight while Koko limped because of his numerous injuries.

The fury in him reared its ugly head again when he finished assessing his best friend's battered state, but paused for a moment when he felt Mikan's hand grip his arm in a painfully tight way again. He turned his head to say a snarky "What?" but his mouth went dry when he looked at her, smiling with a pool of tears that had welled up in her eyes. Tears that she refused to let out.

Natsume opened and closed his mouth a few times before getting mad at himself for being so awkward. He turned away resolutely, putting his full attention on watching out for his cousin and his friend, whom were still limping slowly but surely towards them.

"It's so nice that they're both back safely," Mikan breathed.

He scoffed at how naive she was, but the corners of his lips turned up ever so little.

In the background, the workers cheered.

* * *

They were bombarded by Sumire the moment they stepped back into the inn. The courtesan seemed to have forgotten her history with Koko for the moment, choosing to fuss over him like he was a small child. This incident would change the dynamics of their rocky relationship drastically, Natsume knew. Death, or the threat of it, could do many things to people.

She dressed his wounds personally, clucking around him like a mother hen. Even after Koko was all bandaged up and sleeping soundly in bed, Natsume caught Sumire hovering near the door, her expression still tight. Natsume couldn't blame her, for his own nerves were still frayed as well.

He had overlooked many details in the chaos of the situation, but now that everything had settled, he was left with only disturbing thoughts.

Why had Rei let Koko go so easily? Why had they both been able to leave the warehouse unscathed? Just what had he wanted with Naoki?

Natsume paused at the foot of the wooden stairs, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. If Rei Serio's target was Naoki, it made no sense that the boy would be let off so easily after he had been sent right into Rei's clutches.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Naoki, though. They hadn't really gotten round to talking about what had happened in the afternoon, but Naoki was his usual self, friendly and cheerful.

There was nothing wrong. Everything was over.

So why did he feel like he was overlooking something very important?

Natsume sank down onto the floor, wracking his brains for a plausible answer to all this confusion, but couldn't find anything. Hearing footsteps, he looked up to find Luna looking down at him.

He felt oddly disappointed that it wasn't a certain brown-eyed girl, but it wasn't like he was looking forward to seeing her. She wouldn't be able to provide him with answers anyway, she was too stupid for something like that -

"I'm leaving now," Luna announced flatly.

"Leave, then."

"No thank you?" She smiled dryly at him.

"No," His eyes were intense as he got up to his full height and looked down at her. "Not until I find out what you are, and what you want by helping us."

She didn't show the slightest bit of fluster as she took one more step towards the door. "I told you, I was sent by Mrs Rafey. I'm a fairy. All we wish to do is help."

"Bullshit," Natsume spat out, and found satisfaction in the way Luna flinched away from him. He looked down at her pale neck. "You don't have a pendant," he added, and he knew he'd got her, for her face paled far too much for her to not be guilty of lying.

"So what?" Luna's eyes darted from him towards the open door, her gaze flickering.

"You're not a fairy. You don't have a fairy pendant. And it's fine if you're not willing to tell me the truth," He stepped closer and hissed into her ear, feeling her body temperature cool even further. "I'll find out anyway. And when I do, if I find out that you're up to something bad..."

His eyes glinted as his lips stretched into a feral, predatory grin. "I won't let you off then."

Luna raised her chin indignantly. "You may be more like your father than the old woman thought you were," she said.

Natsume grabbed her arm, furious, but the girl merely smiled sadly at him before dissolving into nothing right before his eyes.

Cursing, Natsume punched his fist into the nearest wall, breathing heavily as he glared balefully at the only proof that Luna had ever graced the room -

- a pile of her clothes, lying still on the dark floor, still sizzling with the remnants of old, ancient magic power.

* * *

**A/N: **I am really sorry that I haven't updated in forever, but school has been really really busy. I used my rare off-day to write this, haha. Updates won't be as frequent until my holidays in August, so I hope you guys understand!

My oneshot, **Happily Ever After**, was plagiarized recently, and although it's been taken down now, I'm still a little shaken and upset. I hope that nothing like this ever happens again, because it has never happened before, and I really don't want my confidence in my readers to be shaken like this.

This is un-betaed for the moment.


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